Agricultural Spraying Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- One assignee dominates the ranking. The leader holds 24 of the 52 records in scope, against 4 at fifth place and 1 at tenth — a steep drop-off rather than a level field.
- Filing already peaked and has not recovered. Filings rose to 10 in 2021, then fell back to 3 by 2022, and the partial 2026 count shows no rebound yet.
- Spraying and pest-control classes dominate; control-system classes barely register. A01M and B05B together cover most of the 52 records, while G05B control-and-regulating and G06T image-processing classes sit at just 3 records each.
What this landscape covers
This review covers patent filings at the intersection of agricultural sprayers, boom sprayers and plant-protection UAV spraying, narrowed to documents that address droplet spectrum, drift-reduction nozzles, boom stability, section control or targeted spraying. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, drawing on 52 published records classified mainly under IPC A01M (pest and vermin control) and B05B (spraying and atomising).
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent filing years in this dataset understate actual activity — 2026 in particular is a partial year and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing trend and technology composition
The trend line and the IPC breakdown below are drawn from the same 52-record scope; together they show where activity concentrated and where it has since cooled.
A single peak, then a pullback
Filings climbed from zero in 2017 to a peak of 10 in 2021, then dropped to 3 by 2022 and have stayed flat or declining since — the midpoint reading gives no sign of a second wave forming ahead of the 2026 cut-off.
Spraying and pest-control classes carry the field
A01M (pest and vermin control) appears in 94.2% of the 52 records and B05B (spraying and atomising) in 55.8%, confirming the corpus is anchored in delivery-and-control hardware rather than agronomy. A01C planting/sowing shows up in 30.8% of records as a frequent secondary class, while control-systems classes G05B and image-processing class G06T each sit at just 5.8% — both are still minority classifications relative to the mechanical and spray-delivery core.
Shares are the percentage of the 52 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Agricultural Spraying and Plant Protection Equipment with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about agricultural spraying and plant protection equipment and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
Control system and method for a suspended boom sprayer
The filing describes a control system for a suspended boom sprayer: sensors on the first and second boom wings detect rotation caused by disturbance torque, a processor computes the differential acceleration between the wings and derives the disturbance torque, and at least one actuator moves either wing to counter it.Filed by Norac Systems International Inc., published 2016-11-17 as US20160330948A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20160136671A1 | Agricultural product delivery control in an agricultural sprayer | 43 |
| 2 | US20180369851A1 | Agricultural sprayer with compressed air spray | 24 |
| 3 | US20160330948A1 | Control system and method for a suspended boom sprayer | 22 |
| 4 | US20160338335A1 | Spray boom nozzle control | 21 |
| 5 | WO2014210043A1 | Agricultural product delivery control in an agricultural sprayer | 17 |
| 6 | US20190000067A1 | Agricultural applicator and system | 13 |
| 7 | US9763437B2 | Control system and method for a suspended boom sprayer | 13 |
| 8 | US11148158B2 | Agricultural sprayer with compressed air spray | 10 |
| 9 | US9380773B2 | Gear flow divider for agricultural product injection | 9 |
| 10 | US20210274773A1 | Agricultural sprayer active boom center frame positioning system | 7 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations within this corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, the class composition and the citation table are read together.
One filer holds a wide lead, then the field thins fast
The leading assignee accounts for 24 of the 52 records, more than six times the fifth-place count of 4 and twenty-four times the tenth-place count of 1. That gap suggests the leader's granted claims are worth checking first in any freedom-to-operate review, since a long tail of single- or double-digit filers sits well behind.
The 2021 peak has not been repeated
Filing activity rose steadily to a peak of 10 records in 2021 before dropping to 3 by 2022, and the partial 2026 figure gives no indication of a new upswing. Read alongside the 18-month publication lag, this looks like a genuine cooling rather than a reporting gap, though the final 2025-2026 count will not be clear for some time.
Sensing and vision claims are still a minority
Only 3 of the 52 records carry a G05B control-and-regulating classification and only 3 carry G06T image-processing classification, versus 49 records touching A01M and 29 touching B05B. Boom mechanics and spray delivery are heavily claimed; the sensing and computer-vision layer that would support autonomous section control is comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to agricultural spraying and plant protection equipment, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| HEINSOHN JEFFERY W | BLACKMER ANDREW JAMES | 4 |
| Deere & Company | Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. | 3 |
| WAGERS JESSE LEE | STYLIANOU DEMETRIS | 2 |
| WAGERS JESSE LEE | SMART JACK MICHAEL | 2 |
| WAGERS JESSE LEE | MUFFETT RICHARD PETER | 2 |
| Raven Industries, Inc. | WAGERS JESSE LEE | 1 |
| Raven Industries, Inc. | STYLIANOU DEMETRIS | 1 |
| Raven Industries, Inc. | SMART JACK MICHAEL | 1 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pair recurs just 4 times — collaboration here is mostly two named inventors within the same organisation rather than cross-company joint filing.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranking covers 17 companies across the full 52-record scope — not a top-50 or top-100 cut — with one clear leader and a long tail of single-digit filers behind it.
A dominant filer in boom and delivery control
The top-ranked assignee's filing count is more than double the combined total of the next several entrants, concentrated in boom sprayer control and product-delivery claims — the same territory covered by the most-cited records in this dataset.
Several active filers have gone quiet
Multiple assignees that filed earlier in the period, including co-inventor pairs with a filing history together, show zero filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader post-2021 pullback in the trend data.
Filing here is largely independent, not collaborative
With only 10 co-assignee pairs across 52 records and the strongest pair recurring just 4 times, most filings originate from a single organisation rather than joint ventures or cross-licensing arrangements.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Deere & Company | 0 | -100% |
| Raven Industries, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Exel Industries | 0 | — |
| NORAC SYST INT | 0 | — |
| HEINSOHN JEFFERY W | 0 | — |
| BLACKMER ANDREW JAMES | 0 | — |
| Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Amazonen-Werke H. Dreyer GmbH & Co. KG | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, whitespace filing, or monitoring a competitor.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the leader
With 24 of 52 records held by one assignee concentrated in boom control and product delivery, any new boom stability or delivery-control design should be checked against that portfolio before filing.
Explore the assignee's claims in EurekaDraft around the sensing and vision gap
G05B and G06T classes each cover only 5.8% of the 52 records, indicating open claim space around sensor fusion and vision-guided targeted spraying that has not been heavily staked out.
Map the white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
Among the 17 companies in the ranked dataset, one assignee leads clearly with 24 of the 52 records in scope, compared with 4 at fifth place and 1 at tenth place. That gap indicates a single organisation has built out the deepest portfolio around boom control and product-delivery claims, the same technical area covered by the most-cited records in this corpus. Anyone entering this space should review that assignee's granted claims first, since the rest of the field is comparatively thin.
Not currently. Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 10 in 2021, then fell to 3 by 2022 and have stayed flat or declined since, with the partial 2026 count showing no rebound yet. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very latest years will always look weaker than they eventually turn out to be, but the multi-year pullback after 2021 looks like a genuine slowdown rather than a reporting artefact.
US20160330948A1, assigned to Norac Systems International, describes a control system for a suspended boom sprayer that uses sensors on both boom wings to detect rotation from disturbance torque, a processor to compute the differential acceleration and derive that torque, and at least one actuator to move either wing to counter it. It is among the most-cited records in this dataset, with 22 citations, indicating it has been a frequent reference point for later boom-stability filings. Anyone designing an active boom-stabilisation system should review its claim scope closely before finalising a sensor-and-actuator architecture.
The IPC composition shows A01M and B05B classes covering the large majority of the 52 records, while G05B control-and-regulating and G06T image-processing classes each sit at only 5.8%. That gap suggests vision-guided target discrimination, closed-loop droplet feedback and UAV-specific section-control logic are less densely claimed than boom mechanics and spray delivery hardware. These are reasonable areas to investigate for a first claim, though a formal freedom-to-operate search is still needed before filing.
A precise concentration percentage cannot be computed from this evidence set because the assignee ranking and the total record count are not directly comparable units. What can be said is that the ranking's leader holds 24 records against 4 at fifth place and 1 at tenth place, a steep drop-off that points to one dominant filer and a long tail of much smaller filers. Co-filing is also rare, with only 10 co-assignee pairs recorded across the full dataset, so most activity originates from individual organisations rather than joint filings.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.