About Northland Ag & Aerial
Built by applicators, not just pilots — both founders bring hands-on application experience to every flight.
“Northland Ag & Aerial's mission is to bring precision agriculture within reach of every Minnesota farmer. Built by two founders who believe in making farming more efficient and effective regardless of size.”
Our Story
We didn't start in agriculture, but have always believed in the values it carries. Three years of core and commercial pesticide application work taught us what works — and now we're using that knowledge with better tools. Agriculture in the Midwest is a $152 billion industry ripe with opportunity for improvement in cultivation, soil protection, and resource conservation.
Who We Serve
We serve row-crop farmers across Southern Minnesota and the metro, but our work doesn't stop at the fence line. Anywhere pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide application is needed — state parks, golf courses, trailer parks, campgrounds — we bring the same precision and access. We extend that same commitment of land stewardship to the landowners and hunters who rely on us for recovery services.
The Team
Ezra Zirbes
Ezra leads Northland Ag & Aerial and comes to it from the ground up — three years of core and commercial pesticide application work before ever picking up a drone controller. He's a licensed commercial pesticide applicator and an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot, so the same person quoting your job understands both the chemistry going on the crop and the aircraft putting it there. As CEO he owns customer relationships, job planning, and making sure the operation's fairness-first scheduling actually holds when the season gets busy.
Austin Sheppard
Austin runs the operational side — fleet readiness, scheduling, and compliance — with the same applicator-and-pilot background as the rest of the team. As a licensed commercial pesticide applicator and FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot, he's the one who keeps the Talos T60X and DJI Matrice 4TD flight-ready and flying legally, and who makes sure a job is rescheduled safely rather than flown in conditions that violate a label or put product off-target. His ground-application roots mean he knows exactly when a drone is the right tool and when a ground rig is.
Our Values
Fairness
Service order respects who asked first — never who's offering the most money.
Transparency
Plain-language policies on data, insurance, and what happens when something goes wrong — not vague reassurance.
Reliability
Minnesota weather doesn't wait, and neither should a farmer's trust in us.
Trust & Policies
Plain language on how we schedule, what we carry, and what happens if something goes wrong — not vague reassurance.
Weather & Scheduling
When a tight weather window forces prioritization across multiple customers, service is delivered strictly first-come, first-served according to schedule — no exceptions for account size or how recently a customer signed.
Insurance
Northland Ag & Aerial carries drone hull/aviation liability coverage and commercial vehicle insurance.
Drift / Crop-Damage Claims Process
- 1Call us directly to report the issue.
- 2We inspect the site within a few days.
- 3If confirmed, we repair or re-treat the affected area at no cost as the default resolution.
- 4If damage is beyond a direct fix, the claim is escalated to our insurance carrier.
Data Ownership
Field-level scouting, mapping, and application data is retained to build your multi-year field-history record. You may request export of your own field data at any time. Aggregated, anonymized data may be used internally for regional trend analysis — your individual data is never shared or identifiable in that use.
Consistent Pricing
Pricing is the same for every customer from day one — no bait-and-switch introductory rates that change later.
