This flying machine has got to appeal to the kid in any farmer or rancher who loves to play with remote-controlled toys.

It’s called the AutoCopter, it costs about $30,000 up front and less than $2.00 an hour to operate, and it can let you see your crops, land, fences, barn roof, wind turbine or whatever from a bird’s eye view without leaving the ground. How cool is that?

“You are able to survey and target precise areas with video,” says Donald Effren, AutoCopter president. “You can fly with GPS information readouts on your laptop screen, including latitude and longitude, altitude, direction of flight and distance from home.” Just a few of the farm and ranch applications for this device include precision nutrient mapping, tracking livestock, inspecting fences, or examining a roof for hail damage.

The AutoCopter has stabilized software that allows it to hover over target field areas, providing a mobile aerial platform for surveillance, photography and sensor management. Designed for commercial use, it is able to carry up to 15 pounds, which is more than adequate for modern digital camera technology, as the typical camera often weighs less than 2 lbs.

I did an interview with Donald about the product, which you can listen to in the player below – right under this video that gives a view from an AutoCopter. You can see more AutoCopter demo videos here.