A Legacy Rooted in Wauchula, Florida
In Wauchula, Florida, where citrus trees stretch to the horizon and family roots run even deeper, Ben Krause is carrying forward a proud legacy of American farming.
Ben’s story is one many rural families can relate to. He grew up on a citrus farm that’s been in the family for over 35 years, walked away from the groves for a while, and found his way back home.
“Like a lot of kids from a small town,” he says, “I was headed out of here.”
After a decade in the Carolinas, the pull of home—and the desire to raise his own kids around family—brought Ben and his wife back in 2018.
Since then, he’s been running Lightning Aerial LLC, managing 600 acres of citrus and raising the fourth generation of Krauses under the Florida sun.
Fighting Greening With Grit
Florida’s citrus industry has been fighting an uphill battle against greening disease, a bacteria spread by a tiny insect that slowly chokes productivity from the trees.
“There’s no known cure,” Ben says. “Our production has dropped 90% in the last ten years.”
That kind of statistic would make most folks fold—but not Ben.
Instead, he looked to the sky.
The Switch to Spray Drones
Ben first discovered the Agras T40, and quickly saw opportunity.
Traditional tractor spraying was expensive, slow, and hard on the groves.
“We couldn’t afford to keep spraying five times a year with our air blast sprayers,” he explains. “When I saw what the drone could do—I could get ten drone sprays for the cost of five tractor sprays—it was a no-brainer.”
Ben and his team soon upgraded to the T50, and now they’re preparing to roll the J100 into their citrus operation.
Why the J100?
✅ Simplicity
✅ Efficiency
✅ Self-Reliance
✅ Time-Saving Precision
“With the tractors, we were constantly shelling out thousands for parts, or waiting on certified techs with $20,000 laptops to diagnose a problem,” Ben says.
“With the drone? I’ve had three crashes—all pilot error—and I’ve fixed every one myself.”
The J100 takes it a step further. For an orchard-based operation like Ben’s, where mapping each grove used to take up to a week, the J100’s LiDAR technology is a game-changer.
“Before, I had to map everything ahead of time—3D models, altitude points, obstacle planning,” Ben explains. “Now, I can drop points by hand, and the drone handles the rest. It saves me days of work, and it’s more accurate than I ever could be with a mouse.”
Farming With Family—and for the Future
What really drives Ben isn’t just numbers on a yield report. It’s the bigger picture.
“I used to work as a CPA in the financial services industry,” he says. “It was a solid career. But when my kids would ask what I did all day, I couldn’t explain it. Now, my four-year-old knows: Daddy grows oranges.”
His kids tag along on spray days. They play with Legos at night.
And when Ben’s son built a little drone out of blocks after watching Dad work, it hit him just how much this life matters.
“He said, ‘Daddy, look—it’s a drone!’ That meant a lot to me. He’s already connecting the dots.”
Rooted in Legacy, Rising With Innovation
Ben Krause is one of thousands of farmers across the country doing what American farmers have always done:
Adapting. Innovating. Fighting to keep the land productive for the next generation.
Drones aren’t just about cutting costs.
They’re about staying in the game.
They’re about giving farmers options where there once were none.
And they’re about giving families like the Krauses a chance to keep farming the land their grandparents once walked.
Agri Spray Drones - Empowering Rural America with New Opportunities!
To view Ben's spotlight video on the Agri Spray YouTube Channel go to https://bit.ly/4m1v94r
