Short and clear: spraying plant-protection products (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides) by drone is currently not permitted in Croatia. This is not a question of price lists or equipment, it is a question of law. In this article we explain why, who regulates it, what a drone may still legally do in your vineyard or olive grove, and whether the rules are likely to change.
If you just want the practical takeaway: mapping, monitoring and foliar feeding we already do today, and for aerial protection we keep a list of interested growers in case the law changes.
Why drone pesticide spraying is banned
The issue is that, in legal terms, a drone that sprays a product over a crop falls under aerial application. And aerial application of pesticides is prohibited in principle across the European Union.
Three things line up here:
- Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides sets a general ban on aerial spraying across the whole EU, with only very narrow, individually approved exceptions.
- The Act on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (NN 32/20) transposes that directive into Croatian law and keeps the same ban on aerial application.
- Product registration: even if someone held an aerial-work permit, no plant-protection product in Croatia currently has an approved aerial use. Every registered product’s label states its method of application, and none of them names a drone.
In other words, two walls stand one behind the other: the general ban on aerial application, and the absence of any product approved for such use. That is why no serious company in Croatia can legally offer “drone pesticide spraying”, regardless of what you may see advertised in some countries outside the EU.
And the drone as an “aircraft”?
On top of that, a spraying drone is legally treated as an aircraft. That means the flight itself, quite apart from the pesticide rules, is also subject to the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency (HACZ) rules on operating unmanned systems. So even for fully permitted work, the flight must be carried out by a registered operator under HACZ rules.
Who regulates it
Two institutions share jurisdiction, each for its own part:
- The Ministry of Agriculture oversees the use of plant-protection products, product registration and enforcement of Act NN 32/20. It is the address for the question “may this product be applied this way”.
- The Croatian Civil Aviation Agency (HACZ) regulates the flight of unmanned aircraft: operator registration, flight categories, pilot competence and safety conditions.
Only if both parts lined up, a permitted aerial application, an approved product and a compliant flight, would drone spraying be legal. Right now they do not line up.
What a drone may still legally do
This is the important part, because a lot of useful work gets done without a drop of pesticide. We do all of the following routinely and fully within the rules:
- Parcel mapping and orthophoto — a precise map of the plot as a basis for planning work. From 20 €/ha.
- NDVI crop monitoring — imaging plant vigour so a problem is spotted before it becomes visible to the naked eye. From 30 €/ha.
- Foliar feeding — spraying fertilisers and biostimulants from the air (not pesticides). From 45 €/ha, from 65 €/ha on terraced parcels.
- Aerial watering and spreading of permitted materials, where it makes sense.
The distinction is fundamental: fertiliser and biostimulant are not plant-protection products, so they do not fall under the same ban. That is why we may do foliar feeding but not crop protection. You can read more about how we approach the protection topic on the drone spraying page, and the full range on services.
These services work especially well on the demanding sites that are common in Dalmatia, on the terraces of Pelješac and Hvar, the stony olive groves of Brač and Šolta, or the orchards of the Neretva. Crop-specific details are on the vineyards, olive groves and orchards & citrus pages, and for steep sites on difficult terrain.
Will the law change?
Maybe, but nothing is guaranteed. At EU level there is a debate about simplifying the rules (the so-called omnibus reforms of 2025/2026), and agricultural drones are increasingly mentioned as a technology that could gain a clearer, narrower framework for permitted use. Some member states are already testing exemptions for precise, targeted spraying.
Even so, in the best case that would mean strictly defined conditions, special product status and additional permits, not free-for-all spraying. So every announcement should be read cautiously and without promises. We follow the regulations and will get in touch as soon as something concrete changes.
How to register interest
If you want to be among the first when (and if) aerial protection is legalised, we can add you to our interest list. It commits you to nothing, and it means you will get the information the moment the rules allow it. In the meantime, for the same parcel we can do mapping, NDVI monitoring and foliar feeding.
A few practical figures: a half-day visit from 450 €, a full day from 850 €, a minimum fee of 120 € (free above 3 ha), plus 0.80 €/km for distances over 30 km. It is all laid out on the pricing and mapping & monitoring pages.
Get in touch via the contact page and tell us where the parcel is and what you need, we will answer concretely and honestly, without overblown promises.