When you pull into Providence, South Carolina, you’ll find rows of corn, peanuts, and cotton swaying in the humid breeze, a sign that the land is alive and well cared for. Among those fields is Zane Clardy, who, alongside Legette Flowers, runs Palmetto Ag Spray—a business that’s as much about family and stewardship as it is about drones and tractors.
Founded in 2023, Palmetto Ag Spray has quickly become a trusted partner for local growers, offering drone spraying, forestry work, and all sorts of specialty applications. As Zane puts it:
“Pretty much anything—if a drone can do it, we do it.”
The journey with spray drones goes back further than most know. Zane's partner bought a T30 from Agri Spray Drones back when the company was still operating out of Taylor’s garage in Missouri. It was just Taylor and Miss TroyAnn running the whole show then, and Zane likes to say they were “one of the OGs” with Agri Spray Drones, watching each other grow, learn, and serve more farmers season after season.
In coastal South Carolina, hurricanes are a way of life. One hard rain can leave 20 inches on the ground in two days, shutting down ground rigs and leaving farmers anxious about protecting their crops. That’s when the phone starts ringing at Palmetto Ag Spray.
“Obviously, the spray drone leaves no footprint when it gets wet. We can still get in the field.”
This is what Zane loves about drone spraying—helping farmers protect their crops when traditional methods can’t get the job done.
Earlier this year, Zane brought in an HD 408 system to add precision guidance to a planting tractor, and it’s been a game-changer for his operation. With a small-plot planter in tow, Zane can now skip the row markers, haul equipment more easily, and keep an eye on his planter’s chains and transmission while staying perfectly on line.
“Once you put GPS guidance on a tractor, you can get a lot more done.”
From planting sunflowers for neighbors to laying down herbicides and fertilizer precisely, the HD 408 has turned Zane’s older John Deere into a high-efficiency workhorse.
For Zane, farming started with planting wildlife plots and dove fields, but it has become something much deeper—a way to teach his family about stewardship and gratitude.
“Every day when he gets home, my almost four-year-old says, ‘Hey Dad, I want to go get in a tractor with you.’”
It’s in those small moments—dusty boots, a child’s laughter in the buddy seat, a fresh row of green emerging from the soil—where Zane finds his purpose. It’s about faith in the work, hope for the future, and the quiet belief that planting seeds today will grow more than crops tomorrow.
Zane’s hope is simple: keep planting, keep growing, and keep showing the next generation what it means to love the land. One day, he hopes his kids will take the wheel themselves, continuing the cycle of hard work and hope that keeps small towns like Providence alive.
Until then, you’ll find Zane in the field, the hum of the tractor mixing with the warm South Carolina breeze, planting seeds for tomorrow—one row, one crop, and one memory at a time.
Interested in purchasing a HD408 AutoSteer?