![]() In the past, drones may have failed to meet users’ expectations, as early models were low on automation and lacked the sensor capabilities to truly give farmers the data needed for precision agriculture. When it’s time to deploy drones as part of a farming operation, whether a single vehicle or a whole fleet, it’s important for farmers to select high-quality precision agriculture equipment that fits their needs. Deploying a fleet of drones to cover large areas with seeds or chemical agents could be a powerful near-future use case in farming, as aviation authorities consider the future of unmanned aerial vehicle operation. In areas where regulations allow drones to operate beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), spraying drones can prove especially effective. Using smaller amounts of these agents, in places where they are most needed, can support compliance with regulations calling for pesticide reduction. The use of drones in precision application of chemicals such as pesticides is an important development for the future of agriculture. Running spraying and seeding drones around the clock can effectively add more useful hours, and the manual effort needed to operate these aircraft is remarkably low. For example, a battery-powered spraying drone can receive a full charge in minutes rather than hours, allowing farmers to get more productive time from these assets in the course of a day. Today’s drones are remarkably versatile and efficient from a power perspective. Some versatile spreading systems can fulfill multiple roles, allowing farmers to seed their fields, reseed prairie grasses or spread chemicals on precisely chosen areas. A drone’s ability to follow a careful flight plan over a field allows it to perform seeding or spraying duties, as well. Precision agriculture has combined this level of specialization with modern automation and the resulting improvements in efficiency.ĭrones can serve as the proverbial “eye in the sky” for farmers, but they can also take a more direct part in precision agriculture. In those days, farmers could carefully divide fields and treat each segment in a suitable way. The USDA compares precision agriculture to a more classic form of crop cultivation and farm management, before mechanized farming. When farmers can perform precision spraying based on accurate data, their crop yields and production can go up while waste declines. Now, with the ability to capture more precise measurements on individual areas - including from drone-mounted sensors - has allowed a new era of smart farming to take hold. Legacy methods of fertilizer and pesticide application were not precise enough to deal with the conditions within portions of a field - treatments were applied based on the average characteristics of the whole area, which could be imprecise and wasteful. Department of Agriculture notes how precision agriculture deviates from more traditional mechanized agriculture. This allows farmers to divide their land along more granular lines than ever before and use every square foot in a strategic, intelligent fashion. Precision agriculture, as a methodology, involves treating different parts of the same field in unique ways.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |