The Vertical Space
The Vertical Space
Jim Barry, Peter Shannon & Luka Tomljenovic
#104 Edward Barraclough, Drone-Hand: Why ranching will scale autonomy before defense
1 hour 12 minutes Posted Dec 4, 2025 at 3:00 pm.
Agriculture will be the first at-scale UAV success story
Adoption of automation in agriculture - past and present
The case for autonomy in agriculture
Introducing Drone-Hand
Livestock ranching use cases
What the end user really cares about
How regional differences impact the product
The role of synthetic data in agriculture
Building trust with farmers
Common misconceptions about autonomy in farming
Bottlenecks to scaling autonomy in agriculture
Skygrid sponsored Q&A segment
The Australian drone ecosystem
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Show notes
Autonomy may scale in agriculture long before it does in defense or UAM, and today’s guest makes a compelling case why. We speak with Edward Barraclough, founder and CEO of Drone-Hand, about applying autonomous drones and on-device AI to the realities of livestock operations across Australia, New Zealand, North America, and beyond. Edward explains why ranching is the perfect proving ground for autonomy: massive land areas, urgent labor shortages, permissive operating environments, and ROI th...