RICHMOND, Texas – A proposed ban on importing Chinese-made drones into the U.S. along with current restrictions on their availability here should not affect most farmers.

That’s according to Arthur Erickson, CEO of Hylio, a maker of drones near Houston, Texas.

Erickson said it wouldn’t take very long for U.S. drone manufacturers to ramp up production enough to meet higher demand if a total ban on drones made in China is adopted by Congress and signed by the president.

He estimated 70 percent of the drones used in agriculture and other purposes worldwide are made in China while the U.S. has no more than 15 percent of the international market.

“There might be a few years where we’re getting up to speed in terms of production but it’s going to be a minor blip in terms of roadblocks. I think we’ll be just fine and, in fact, better off for it,” he said.

A ban on Chinese-made drones is moving through Congress because of growing concerns they pose a national security and economic risk from a belief they might be able to collect things like crop production data and provide a pipeline of information to give the Chinese greater ability to manipulate prices on the open market to better compete with U.S. products.

In September, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the measure, which is now before the U.S. Senate.

The bill would add China’s only maker of drones, DJI, to the Federal Communication Commission’s Covered List, meaning new models of DJI drones would be prohibited from operating on communications networks in the U.S.

 “That would mean they couldn’t be sold here legally,” Erickson said.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

“It is strategically irresponsible to allow Communist China to be our drone factory,” she said on the House floor after the bill’s passage.

U.S. farmers use drones for purposes like seeding and spraying. Farmers have concerns about their future availability not just because of the measure before Congress.

Currently, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has stopped imports of DJI drones, including the larger models used in agriculture, due to indications slave labor is used at the company’s manufacturing plant in western China.

However, Erickson said only a small percentage of U.S. farmers are using drones right now.

He said production here and by U.S. allies will be able to increase at a fast enough pace to meet demand for the technology as it continues to grow if availability of the products from China continues to be restricted and later banned.

“We need to scale up our production so we can meet that demand. We got a lot of work ahead of us. It’s an opportunity,” he said.

Hylio was started in 2016 by Erickson and other co-founders of the company, which made over 500 drones primarily used in agriculture last year.

Erickson said production by his firm has more than doubled this year.

“Going into the future, we’ll be making thousands of drones,” he said.

Erickson said the price of the drones made by his company range from $20,000 to $80,000 apiece.

The price includes training on their use along with software, battery chargers and other pieces of equipment.

Seed and spray are loaded into the machines, which weight about 450 pounds and measure roughly 225 square feet, before taking flight.

“You can do six, seven, 800 acres per day with a fleet of drones,” he said.

Erickson recommended farmers educate themselves about drones and understand the action being taken or discussed to safeguard the nation instead of losing sleep over relationship between the U.S. and China.

“There’s no cause for long term existential concern. You might not be able to buy a Chinese drone that you’ve grown accustomed to in a year or two, but there are non-Chinese alternatives that you can turn to. So, it’s not the end of the world,” he said.