C-DRONE GUIDE · 20 SEPTEMBER 2026
Burgundy mustard and drones: detecting flea beetles and aphids, mapping emergence, price
Burgundy mustard seed is one of the rare French agricultural sectors in full revival: starting from 60 tonnes in 1993, production reached 12,500 tonnes in 2025, and the 2026 harvest is shaping up early and promising, with 14,000 to 15,000 tonnes expected across 8,500 hectares. That revival stays fragile: the brown mustard crop faces two well-identified waves of pressure, flea beetles at emergence and aphids as the crop develops, on a crop where any unnoticed outbreak weighs directly on a yield that has to meet the PGI's specifications. Aerial drone mapping documents what a simple field visit does not catch in time: here is what it brings, and what a flight never replaces.
Published on 20 September 2026, reviewed on 20 September 2026 — regulations in force as of September 2026.
A sector in revival: Burgundy mustard seed in 2026
Dijon mustard requires Burgundy-grown seed, a Burgundy-appellation white wine and processing within Burgundy — the specification behind the "Moutarde de Bourgogne" PGI, recognised since 2009. Yet for decades the seed itself came almost exclusively from Canada, the world's leading producer, as French cultivation had all but vanished from the Burgundy landscape. Since the 1990s, a revival driven by the Association des producteurs de graines de moutarde en Bourgogne (APGMB), backed by regional agronomic research, has rebuilt the sector: around 560 growers, 380 of them in Côte-d'Or — the birthplace of this revival — now farm close to 8,500 hectares spread across Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne and Nièvre, almost exclusively with brown mustard (Brassica juncea), the species required by the Dijon mustard specification.
The long-term progression is striking: from 60 tonnes in 1993 to 12,500 tonnes in 2025. The 2026 harvest, coming in early, is shaping up as one of the best of the decade, with a yield estimated at 14 to 15 quintals per hectare, for a total of 14,000 to 15,000 tonnes. That momentum still depends on a demanding crop: brown mustard seed, sown within a narrow window, goes through two peaks of vulnerability to pests that can, within a single season, undermine the work of rebuilding an entire sector.
What multispectral mapping documents, from emergence to flowering
The first peak of vulnerability comes at emergence: flea beetles attack the cotyledons and young leaves, causing a characteristic "shot-hole" pattern that can be enough to destroy an entire stand if the attack is not caught in time — which is why growers set out traps as early as September to track beetle flights. A multispectral flight over the plot at this stage produces a vigour index that highlights zones of patchy emergence or degraded vigour before they are visible to the eye from the access track: our guide comparing a multispectral camera against a standard RGB camera covers the sensors and indices involved.
The second peak comes later in the season, with aphids, which colonise the flowering stems. The principle behind spectral-signature detection is documented: a ground-spectroscopy study published in 2024 in Remote Sensing by Shukla, Nigam, Birah, Kanojia, Kumar, Bhattacharya and Chander measured the reflectance of healthy and aphid-infested mustard plots in the Bharatpur district (Rajasthan, India): the spectral bands at 679 nm, 746 nm and 979 nm proved the most sensitive for separating the two populations, consistent with an infestation-severity index scored on the ground by an entomologist (see the study on Google Scholar). The principle — a spectral signature specific to infestation, distinct from the rest of the crop — transposes to multispectral imagery carried on a drone, across a whole plot rather than a single ground-level measurement. On neighbouring crops from the same Brassicaceae family, our guide on variable-rate nitrogen with a drone on wheat and rapeseed covers a complementary use of the same technology, geared towards fertilisation rather than pests.
The honesty clause: a spectral anomaly does not say what caused it
The honesty clause. The study by Shukla and co-authors correlates precise spectral bands with an infestation-severity index scored on the ground by an entomologist, on plots monitored over time using contact hyperspectral spectroscopy: it demonstrates that a statistical separation is possible under these controlled conditions, not that a single multispectral flight delivers an entomological diagnosis. On the ground, a drop in vigour at emergence or an anomaly later in the season points to a zone to check, never an identified cause. The shot-hole pattern of an early flea-beetle attack can, from a distance, be confused with simply patchy emergence (soil crusting, uneven sowing depth), a deficiency, or the effect of excess water on the clay-limestone soils typical of Côte-d'Or. Later in the season, an aphid-infestation signature can come close to that of a fungal disease — early blight or sclerotinia stem rot, two pathogens documented on Brassicaceae — or simple end-of-cycle water stress.
Yet the response differs radically depending on the cause: a confirmed flea-beetle attack at early emergence calls for a rapid response, possibly drawing on the trapping already in place and the féverole companion planting that confuses the insect's targeting; simple germination unevenness often needs no action at all; a fungal disease calls for a targeted fungicide treatment, unrelated to any insecticide. That distinction remains entirely a matter of ground verification by the grower, their cooperative or their APGMB technician — the drone speeds up finding where to check first on a plot spanning several hectares, never determining what is found there.
Who commissions this service, and 2026 prices
Demand comes from cooperatives and the APGMB for pooled monitoring across several farms, from PGI growers farming directly under contract with a manufacturer, and from the chambers of agriculture of Côte-d'Or and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté supporting the sector. The flat plains and plateaus of Côte-d'Or present few obstacles; the point to check before any flight remains the proximity of an aerodrome — in Dijon, the former commercial traffic at Dijon-Longvic has ceased, but residual military traffic remains south-east of the city. A systematic check on the Géoportail drone zone map remains the first reflex before any campaign; our departmental guide on drone services in Côte-d'Or and our regional overview of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté cover the airspace picture in full. Missions in the Dijon basin are handled from Dijon.
Ranges observed in France in 2026, excluding VAT:
| Service | Observed price (excl. VAT) |
| Multispectral flight, flea-beetle spotting at emergence (up to 10 hectares) | €300 to €500 |
| Additional pass per extra 10 hectare block | €90 to €140 |
| Mid-season monitoring flight, vigour and aphids (up to 15 hectares) | €350 to €600 |
| Combined monitoring (2 passes, emergence + mid-season) | €600 to €1,000 |
These figures cover the flight and delivery of a usable map within 24 to 48 hours; they do not include the pest-treatment decision or precisely identifying the pest or disease involved, which remain the responsibility of the grower, their cooperative or their technician. For a group of APGMB growers farming neighbouring plots, a pooled campaign noticeably reduces the cost per hectare. Request a quote stating the area, the number of plots and the period targeted: early September for emergence and flea-beetle spotting, during flowering for aphid monitoring.