With regard too drones I have one they are not that noisy and do not spook birds as msg claims I had mine hovering about 50’ over a bleedin pigeon on my roof it didn’t move until I buzzed it then it went, also mine has a camera on it quite handy which we used once to find a downed model aircraft as the controller has a screen on it so yes you could survey land as such to see where any damage was occurring and wind doesn’t really affect mine and it was only couple hundred quid not an expensive one. I do know about model flying as I have my model aircraft bmfa qualification too fly and fly quite regularly.You could not use a jet model aircraft as mentioned by msg have you flown one I have a couple of them a few times I would not even consider a aircraft stick with a drone. But if you did go down the drone route you would need too pass the CAA exam quite easy really get insured then you would have a CAA No which has to be attached to the drone, all that caused by some idiot down at Gatwick the other year so sensible flyers like me now have too suffer because of 1 idiot. But in reality if you have permissions and the farmers ok what about just going for a walk around and noting where there is crop damage etc and it healthier for you and your bank balance. By the way my drone up for sale as don’t use it anymore