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One of the uses they mention for commercial drones is monitoring things on large farms.

If the drone takes off from the farm, lands on the farm, and in between stays within the boundary of the farm and stays low enough to not intrude on the airspace where manned planes can legally fly, is it still subject to FAA regulation?

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Depends on the airspace classification above the farm (affects your airspace and how tall it is). Also technically you can only fly it if you're an amateur, which (as a professional farmer/operator) wouldn't qualify.

Often these places are pretty lax though, and if you already have clearance to fly a private aircraft there you can just advise your ATC and go from there.

If you're concerned about that, you have to get a CoA, and then the language of the CoA itself will outline who you have to notify, where you can/can't fly and what altitudes.

If it stays below 500ft, and is controlled by someone with line of sight (who is also the owner of the property, or has consent from the owner) then it is allowed under FAA reg.

Nope, wrong, not if it's being used in commercial application. The FAA regs that exempt model aviation specifically restrict it to non-commercial activities. When you are in open air and are any distance from the ground, you are in FAA airspace.

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