Guide · Agribusiness
Websites for agricultural contractors and custom applicators
What growers should find when they open your site on a phone: crops, coverage, licenses and a fast way to reach you. Plus license wording for the US, the UK and Canada.
Patroclo team12 min read
In this guide
In short
- Your site has to settle a grower's questions on a phone screen: do you treat my crop, do you cover my county, are you licensed here and how fast can I reach you?
- Show each service with its crops, your fleet by make and model, the counties you cover and a short request form.
- Write each certificate in the regulator's exact words, with the state or province, because "FAA-certified" doesn't say what was certified.
- Few of the contractor sites we reviewed showed licenses, insurance or reviews, so showing yours gives you an opening.
- On Google Business Profile, set up as a service-area business and name up to 20 service areas, such as cities, postal codes or counties.
Picture a grower whose spray window is closing. They pull up your site on a phone, maybe from the field, to settle a few questions: do you treat my crop, do you cover my county, are you licensed here and how fast can I reach you? This guide shows what to put on the page and how to word your licenses.
Who this guide is for
This guide is for businesses that apply crop protection products, fertilizer or seed on other people's land, for pay. What they're called depends on the country:
- United States: custom applicator, commercial applicator (the licensing term), aerial applicator or ag pilot (the terms the National Agricultural Aviation Association, NAAA, uses in place of crop dusting), and spray drone operator.
- United Kingdom: agricultural contractor or spraying contractor. The trade association, the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC), speaks of land-based contractors.
- Canada: rules are set by each province. In Saskatchewan, applicators hold a pesticide applicator licence, and the business itself holds a pesticide service licence.
Use your growers' words in headings and page titles. "Applicator" alone is ambiguous: when we searched for custom applicator website design in October 2026, the results were pages about custom web apps. Pair it with crop, spraying or aerial.
What a grower checks before calling you
A grower who gets your name from a referral checks six things before calling. Put each answer on the first screen or one tap away:
- Do you treat my crop with my product? Row crops, small grains, rangeland or orchards. Herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, seed or liquid fertilizer.
- Do you cover my fields? Counties or towns by name, and how far you travel for larger jobs.
- What will you use? Fixed-wing, helicopter, drone or ground rig, with make and model.
- Are you licensed and insured where I farm? The state or province, the category and the certificate.
- Can you make my window? Hours, after-hours service and how bookings work at peak season.
- How do I reach you right now? A number that rings, a text or WhatsApp, and a short form.
Headwaters Flying Service, in Three Forks, Montana, answers most of these on one page but shows no license or certificate. On the contractor sites we reviewed, licenses, insurance and reviews were rarely shown. That's your opening.
The pages your site needs
Your site needs the six sections below. A small operation can fit them all on one homepage. With several bases or many services, give each base or service its own page, so growers and Google can land on it directly.
- Services and crops. One block per service, with the crops and product types it covers and a button to the request form.
- Equipment and fleet. Make and model, with your own photos. "Two John Deere R4044 ground sprayers" says more than "modern equipment." Add GPS guidance and flow control if you run them.
- Service-area map. Counties or towns named in text, next to a simple map, plus your base and how far you travel.
- Licensing and insurance. Your certificates in the regulator's exact words, with the state or province. More on that below.
- Crew. Pilots, operators and whoever answers the phone, with names and photos if they agree. A grower is trusting you with a season's crop.
- Request an application. Name, phone, field location, crop and acres, with your number and hours beside the form.
We built the website of Livio S.A., an aerial and ground applicator in Córdoba, Argentina. Each service has a card with its own photo and a button that jumps to the contact section, where the form is. More of that work is on our agribusiness page.
Licensing to show, and how to word it
Show each license you hold in the regulator's exact words, with the state or province where it applies. The table at the end of this section sums up the wording.
United States: state certification
State, territorial and tribal authorities certify applicators, and EPA oversees their programs. You need certification in each state, territory and area of Indian country where you apply restricted-use pesticides. Many states require it of every commercial applicator.
EPA's certification page lists 10 federal categories, and recertification generally means continuing education every 3 to 5 years. The federal rule also has a category for aerial work: "Aerial pest control" in 40 CFR 171.101(o), for commercial applicators who use or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides applied by fixed or rotary wing aircraft.
Aircraft: FAA Part 137
No one may conduct agricultural aircraft operations without a Part 137 certificate (§137.11), and a private certificate can't be used for compensation or hire (§137.35). Write the commercial one out in full: "FAA Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate." A bare "FAA-certified" doesn't say what was certified.
Under §137.55, a commercial operator may not operate under a business name that isn't shown on its certificate. Use that exact name on your website and your Google Business Profile. If you rebrand, apply to amend the certificate before the new name goes up. Under §137.17, you file at least 15 days ahead, unless your Flight Standards office approves a shorter period.
Spray drones
The FAA says Part 137 governs the use of aircraft, drones included, to dispense or spray substances. Under 55 lb, counting the load, a drone flies under Part 107 with exemptions from §107.36 and several Part 137 rules. At 55 lb or more, it flies under Parts 91 and 137, with exemptions. On your site, show the certificate and the drone models you fly.
California: advertising counts
California's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) requires a pest control business license for pest control for hire. Its license packet (revised July 2024) describes that as "advertising, soliciting, or operating" as a pest control business. Since advertising counts, we would get the license before your website offers spraying in California. The packet also requires proof of financial responsibility, and chemical liability insurance is one option for aerial work.
United Kingdom
Show your operators' certificates and the date of your last sprayer inspection. Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says users of professional products must hold a certificate, and boom sprayers wider than 3 m must be inspected at least every three years.
Think twice before listing drone spraying. Aerial spraying is prohibited unless the operator holds a permit, and drones count as aerial spraying. HSE's aerial spraying page (updated July 1, 2026) says there are currently no commercial authorisations for drone application, only a limited number of trial permits. Operators would also need CAA authorisation and PA1 and PA6 (or equivalents).
Canada: Saskatchewan
In Saskatchewan, a business applying pesticides for hire or reward needs a pesticide service licence and must employ at least one certified and licensed applicator. The licence is issued only to the company or individual named on the application form and isn't transferable.
Aerial and drone (RPAS) operators need drift liability coverage of at least C$100,000 per occurrence. Licences expire on December 31, so update the year on your site each January. Other provinces set their own rules.
| Where | Write this | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| US state license | "Commercial applicator certified in [state], [category]"Use your state's own term. | "EPA-certified" |
| Aircraft (US) | "FAA Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate"Under the business name shown on it. | "FAA-certified" |
| Drones (US) | The same Part 137 wording, plus the drone models you fly | "FAA-approved drone spraying" |
| United Kingdom | "Our operators hold [certificate]. Sprayer inspected [month, year]." | Drone spraying offered as a service |
| Saskatchewan | "Pesticide service licence, [year]"Plus drift coverage if you fly. | Last year's licence left up |
Rules checked on October 12, 2026. The suggested wording isn't legal advice.
Built for a phone in the field
Design for the phone first. Google uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking, and it's also the version a grower sees in the field.
- Tap to call, always in view. One tap dials, with your hours beside it. Headwaters mentions after-hours service, which answers a peak-season question on its own.
- WhatsApp or text. Use whichever your growers prefer. The link can open the chat with a first line already written.
- A three-field form. Name, phone and "Where's the field, and what's the crop?" The rest can wait for the call.
- Light pages. Compressed photos load on a weak rural signal, and big buttons are easy to hit.
Nielsen Norman Group's 2019 guidelines for contact pages recommend a form alongside the phone number. Livio's contact section has two WhatsApp buttons, each labeled with a person's first name, plus office hours and a form.
Proof that wins acres
Show proof a grower can check. "Precise" and "on time" are easy to claim.
- As-applied maps. In a sponsored article, Woodley Aerial Spray offers "verified maps with as-applied imagery." If your rigs log GPS, you may already have the data. Saskatchewan requires licensed pesticide service businesses to keep GPS spray records, where the system can produce them, for at least three years. Publish a sample or two, with the grower's permission and field names removed.
- Your own fleet photos. Your aircraft, sprayers and crew. A stock photo of someone else's plane proves nothing about yours.
- Years in business. Headwaters says "Since 2008" and R C Baker says "Established in 1974." Livio gives its founding year, 2013. A date beats an adjective.
- Grower reviews. Ask after a good season and send a link to your Google review form. Offer nothing in return: Google strictly prohibits review incentives.
Now we're on the web, so it's much easier for the world to know about us, and winning new clients has become much simpler. We can also present our projects visually, in a way that's easy to understand.
Roger Graziani · Livio S.A.
Getting found by county and crop
Start with your Google Business Profile, which controls how your business appears on Google Maps and Search. For a contractor who goes to the grower, three settings matter:
- Hide your address. If growers don't visit your base, set up as a service-area business and remove the address from the profile.
- Name up to 20 service areas. Cities, postal codes or other areas, such as counties. Google doesn't allow a radius, and the whole area should stay within about 2 hours of driving from your base.
- Keep the name clean. Google doesn't permit unnecessary information in the business name, so skip "Crop Spraying Montana." For commercial aerial operators, it should be the name on the Part 137 certificate anyway.
If you ferry farther for big jobs, cover that ground on your site's service-area page. Write about real places: the counties you work, their crops and your busy season in each. Google's spam policies treat pages aimed at specific cities or regions that funnel visitors to one page as doorway abuse, so skip cloned "crop spraying in [town]" pages.
NAAA's Find an Aerial Applicator database lists only NAAA members, and NAAC lists members in its Find a Contractor database. If you belong, use the same business name there.
Per-acre prices or "call for a quote"
Publish a per-acre range when a service's rate is stable, and say what it includes. Quoting a job you haven't seen is risky. Still, a bare "call for a quote" leaves a grower nothing to plan with.
If the rate moves with acreage and product, say so. Headwaters writes that its pricing "is determined by the acreage involved" and that chemical costs may vary. Then ask for acres, crop and location in the form, so your quote goes back fast. If you have a minimum job size or charge for ferrying, say that up front too.
Examples worth studying
Headwaters Flying Service (Three Forks, Montana). Its crop-spraying page lists products, three fixed-wing aircraft and two helicopters, ground sprayers by model, hours and how pricing works. Copy the specifics, then add what it lacks: certificates, insurance and reviews.
Heli Air (United Kingdom). Its aerial application page gives plain counts worth copying: seven helicopters and nine UK bases, with DEFRA-approved ground crew and a team "fully certified by the CAA / EASA." Inquiries go through a form or email, and the page lists phone numbers. Missing: testimonials.
R C Baker Ltd (Oxfordshire, United Kingdom). A cautionary example: the site says "Established in 1974" and has a gallery, testimonials and a long services menu. A notice says the firm scaled back its agricultural contracting as of 2021 and offers a more limited range of services, yet the menu still lists about 35 of them. When the business changes, change the pages.
Frequently asked questions
When a referral sends a grower to your site, the site has to confirm that calling you is worth it. It should answer what they would otherwise ask on the phone: your crops, your coverage, your licenses and how to reach you.
We couldn't confirm whether any US state requires, allows or restricts license numbers on a website, so ask your state lead agency first. If you publish one, add the state, category and expiration date so a grower can tell what it covers and whether it's current.
Yes. The FAA says Part 137 governs the use of aircraft, drones included, to dispense or spray substances, and its drone page refers to the required Part 137 certificate. Under 55 lb with the load, a drone flies under Part 107 with exemptions, and at 55 lb or more under Parts 91 and 137 with exemptions.
A private certificate can't be used for compensation or hire (§137.35), so a contractor needs the commercial one. Write it out in full on your site, under the business name shown on the certificate (§137.55).
If a service's rate is stable, publish a per-acre range and what it includes. If it moves with acreage and product, say so, and ask for acres, crop and location in the form so your quote goes back fast.
Your Google Business Profile controls how your business appears on Google Maps and Search, and there you can remove your address and name up to 20 service areas. On your site, write about the real places you work, and skip cloned "crop spraying in [town]" pages, which Google's spam policies treat as doorway abuse.
HSE says users of professional products must hold a certificate, so show your operators' certificates. Add the date of your last sprayer inspection: boom sprayers wider than 3 m must be inspected at least every three years.
HSE counts drones as aerial spraying, which is prohibited unless the operator holds a permit. Its aerial spraying page (updated July 1, 2026) says there are currently no commercial authorisations for drone application, only a limited number of trial permits, so think twice before listing it.
Yes. We built the website of Livio S.A., an aerial and ground applicator in Córdoba, Argentina, with a card for each service and a button to the contact section. More of that work is on our agribusiness page.
Sources
- EPA, How to get certified as a pesticide applicator (updated March 11, 2026). Who certifies, certification in each state, the link to state agencies. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- EPA, Federal certification standards for pesticide applicators (updated February 26, 2026). The 10 categories and recertification. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- 40 CFR 171.101, Cornell Legal Information Institute. The aerial pest control category. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- eCFR, 14 CFR Part 137 (up to date as of October 8, 2026). Sections 137.11, 137.17, 137.35 and 137.55. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- FAA, Dispensing chemicals and agricultural products (Part 137) with UAS (updated May 5, 2026). Drone rules by weight. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- California DPR, Pest control business license packet (revised July 2024). Advertising as pest control for hire; financial responsibility. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- HSE, Guidance on the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 (updated October 7, 2025). Certificates, sprayer inspection, aerial permits. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- HSE, Aerial spraying (updated July 1, 2026). Drone application, trial permits, CAA and PA1/PA6. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- NAAC. Land-based contractors and the Find a Contractor database. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- NAAA, Industry facts and FAQs and Find an Aerial Applicator. The terms aerial application and ag pilot; a database of members only. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Government of Saskatchewan, Pesticide service licence (no date shown). Requirements, transfer, drift coverage, GPS records and retention, expiration. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Google Business Profile Help, service areas, guidelines for representing your business and tips to get more reviews. Service areas, name, review incentives. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Google Search Central, Spam policies (updated August 28, 2026) and mobile-first indexing (updated December 10, 2025). Doorway abuse, mobile indexing. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Nielsen Norman Group, "Contact Us" page guidelines (August 18, 2019). Form alongside the phone. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Headwaters Flying Service, Heli Air and R C Baker Ltd. What each site shows. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- AgriNews, sponsored article on Woodley Aerial Spray (July 24, 2026). As-applied maps. Accessed October 12, 2026.
- Livio S.A., a website we built. The sections in the captures. Accessed October 12, 2026.
