5 Ways That Drones Are Changing How We Farm
Drones have been around for quite some time now but we are increasingly learning new ways to go about employing these tools in a variety of business environments. They're being used to help film football practices, used in surveillance for security markets, used for farming, and much more. Not all drones are built for delivering violence and destruction, they can also be used for peaceful means like taking pictures and perhaps one day even delivering tacos or pizza right to our door. Drones are being used in a big way when it comes to agriculture and we can expect to see a lot more use of them heading into the future.
At present, the global drone market is estimated to be around $45 billion a year and thus far the Federal Aviation Administration has given out thousands of permits for those who want to operate drones. When it comes to looking at the value of drone-powered solutions in all of the applicable industries, we see that it's about $127 billion and growing.
Soil Analysis
Drones can be used to conduct field and soil analysis for farmers. This is a critical part of the beginning of the crop cycle and drones can really offer some convenience in getting this done. The drones are able to construct an accurate and detailed 3-D map for soil analysis and this helps the growers plan their seed planting. They also provide information regarding nitrogen-level management, irrigation, and more.
Planting Crops
Planting can now be done with the use of drones. Using drone-planting and uptake systems has shown to help reduce costs by about 85 percent. The drones are designed to be able to shoot pods that have seeds and plant nutrients right into the soil itself. The drones also have the ability to monitor for pests and disease on an active and ongoing basis. They are able to provide more up-to-date and accurate information about the fields and crops. Also using the near-infrared capabilities of the drone allows farmers to see earlier warning of possible problems with the fields. It helps them to identify plant stress much earlier than traditionally has been possible.
Crop Monitoring
As mentioned above, the drones don't just have the ability to plant but they can also assess the condition of the fields as well and look out for possible damaged areas. Their ability to help with monitoring has clearly helped to increase productivity and efficiency for many. Aside from using drones to gather the information about the crops, farmers can also use satellite imagery but it isn't as current and efficient as they'd get if they decided to use a drone to gather it immediately.
Spraying Crops
Drones are a highly convenient tool that can be used to help spray crops. They have distance-measuring equipment that allows them to do a very efficient job at getting this done. They are able to scan the ground and spray the exact amount of needed liquid and they can apply an even coverage. Experts have estimated that using drones for crop spraying can help the task to be completed five times faster than usual; trying to do it with traditional machinery.
Irrigation
Farmers are always needing to constantly check over their crops in order to see if there are any damaged areas or problems that need to be addressed. Drones on the market these days have thermal, multispectral, and hyperspectral sensors, and these sensors can be used to help the farmer identify which part of their filed might have potential problems. They can be used to help assess the health of the crop and display its heat signature. It's important to be aware if there are any problems and to be able to catch them early in order to address them and the drones can help the farmers to do that.
The drones are becoming increasingly cheaper for farmers to get their hands on and this technology helps the growers to be able to get more advanced information about their fields, increasing yields for them and helping them to reduce crop damage. These UAVs really are a game changer in the field of agriculture and we can expect to only see even more drones that will be used in a variety of environments and settings, going in the future. The drones also offer imaging that is much cheaper than satellite imagery and it also provides a higher resolution. Seems like nothing but benefits by incorporating the use of these tools into the agriculture market.
Pics: pixabay
Sources:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601935/six-ways-drones-are-revolutionizing-agriculture/
http://fortune.com/2016/05/09/here-comes-the-latest-drone-army/
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/26/drones-farming-crop-problems-uavs
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/526491/agricultural-drones/
And just think now Monsanto (Bayer) won't have to deal with forcing those pesky farmer's to follow their crazy industrial farming practices, they can just get rid of the farmers, and use drones and robots to cover our food in crazy amounts of chemicals. Eat up everyone, enjoy!
u said it!
ill stick with my organics/nongmo lol
while killing bees and then replacing bees with drones - can't wait
O my goodness I didnt know so many types of drones existed!
This was awesome well done @doitvoluntarily, I followed right away after reading!
Nice article! :) Was just checking out a homebuilt drone that my mate has too. The potential for these things is amazing.
Drone is working like farmer. Excellent post
more gmo spray for everyone!
We live in such interesting times.
dont we??
They're amazing tools. We're seeing them used for surveying the land for regenerative designs. The topo maps and images they can provide are amazingly accurate, plus offer a lot more data than the old 2d imagery. They'll take a forward angle shot, then a backward one, really getting the nuances of the land. When it's mapped out with good software, the results are amazing.
Seeing them spray... ugh... :)
very informative but horrible - think of the jobs lost to drones - think of all the seasonal workers now out of work due to drone use - very sad - and these idiots think they can replace bees with their drones which is why they are pouring no money into saving bees - because they want us beholden to them for food and not independant.
Amazing