Farmers Using Drones

Drones have been used commercially since the 80s in different industries. Now, the applications are expanding into industries like Agriculture. Thanks to the commercialization of drones and some relaxed government regulations, farmers are investing in operating models that include UAVs. There are several revolutionary strategies for sustainability, food production and increased productivity with the use of drones.

Check out the below 5 ways that farmers are using drones today.

Keeping Watch Over Crop Health
Agricultural changes occur very quickly and can make it hard for farmers to monitor large land areas. This includes livestock and plants. When a farm has a huge acreage or many herds, keeping an eye on these farm products can be difficult without a birds-eye view. Using drones for surveillance is a great way to ensure that your farm is running well. Outfitted with surveillance technology, a UAV can fly over your crops, livestock and the perimeter of your property, taking snapshots or feeding a live video to your monitor. This lets farmers keep up with any unexpected inefficiencies or loss in real time.

Spraying
Most farmers today dislike the idea of chemical spraying, but, it is unavoidable especially in large-scale farming. Thankfully, spraying with drones can help reduce the environmental impact of chemicals. These specialized drones are outfitted with sprayers, and many other types of innovative attachments like an ultrasonic echo device and lasers, which can measure distance with sharp precision. The result of these high-tech attachments is a huge reduction in the amount of chemical sprayed and drones can finish a spray job faster than old-school spray methods.

Optimized Planting
MIT recently reported a new drone planting system. The new method has the potential to reduce planting costs by up to 85% and achieves this by using specialized seeds. These seeds are nutrient-filled pods that are planted into the soil with drones. Apart from MIT's new planting technology, many farmers are already using drones with 3-D mapping attachments that can collect soil for analysis to make planning and planting easier. With thorough analysis, soil nitrogen levels and field irrigation can be measured and optimized for a better planting cycle.

Irrigation
Water shortage is a major problem in agricultural. But with drones, this problem can be resolved. UAVs can be outfitted with remote sensors that allow them to identify the driest areas of a farm so that water can be allocated more economically. Healthier farm Drones can also be used with near-infrared light sensors. This surveillance technology allows farmers see and monitor the health of crops and livestock. The drones can scan the soil and the animals, gather the data and send to the farmer. Plant vegetation index, animal body heat etc., are some of the data collected by these drones.

They are effective because they monitor minute changes in a crop's green light and reflected NIR. After which they develop symptomatic multispectral images for analysis.Future of Farm Drones A Global Market Insights forecast shows that drones in agriculture will exceed 200,000 units ($1 billion) by 2024. The agricultural drone market will expand in the next few years with the pace of the overall drone market. With the help of positive demand, new applications of drones, and relaxed regulatory barriers we expect to see this prediction forecast exceeded.

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