Benefits of drone technology in agriculture

 

Precision agriculture is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter and intra-field variability in crops to optimise returns on inputs while preserving resources.  Drone technology can enable farmers to benefit from:

 

• reduced / targetted spraying (or other interventions) potentially reducing spraying costs  by up to 50% plus being a more environmentally option (where applicable)
   

• weed management: mapping of cereal weeds including oats, brome, ryegrass, poppies & black­grass
   

• disease management : mapping of yellow rust & take-­all, for example

 

Converting drone-based multispectral images into accurate reflectance and index maps, like NVDI, and also using RGB images to generate high resolution orthomosaics.  The drone-acquired information can easily be plugged into your agricultural operations and equipment, for example straight into the tractor cab to tightly control irrigation, spraying or other interventions.

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A recent survey of drones used in agriculture showed 55% of respondents deployed or were thinking of deploying drones to survey their crops & using data to increase the bottom line & significantly improve the management decision making process.

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The resulting benefits include increasing margins, reduced input costs plus an improved understanding of field performance & variation, yield forecasting, more consistent crops & yields & reduced environmental losses (pollution).

 

See the BBC's The One Show episode on black-grass mapping capabilities. This both helps improve understanding and longer-term management of this problem weed, as well as informing short-term management decisions  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03420fw .

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See our first crop scouting project here

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For more information just call 01628 436 494 or email the team at contact@thamesvalleydrones.co.uk