Farm Horizons
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June 6, 2016
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Page 15
LEFT: The DCHS drone was purchased with the
helpful generosity of its sponsors: Dahlman
Farms, the Brandon Sherping Agricultural
Scholarship, and Monsanto, through its regional
office in Hutchinson.
PHOTO BY JENNIFER VON OHLEN
agriculture for roughly six years,
following Asian countries such as
China and Japan who have been using the technology for a much longer time.
However, the United States is
considered to be among its early
adopters. Dassel-Cokato High
School (DCHS) agricultural instructor Eric Sawatzke anticipates
drones will be used quite often in
the near future, due to the vast areas of farmland in the US.
According to the United States
Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, about 51
percent of the US land base (including Alaska) is currently dedicated to agricultural purposes.
While drones may seem similar
to large remote-control airplane
toys, they can be equipped with
basic-level sensors able to register
data invisible to the naked eye.
One such use is monitoring near
Dassel-Cokato High School agricultural instructor Eric Sawatzke took stuinfrared (NIR) levels in crops.
dents outside to give them hands-on experience with drone technology.
As plants absorb sunlight, they
PHOTO BY JENNIFER VON OHLEN
do not take in the infrared energy
of the spectrum. Therefore, if a
drone’s sensors are only detecting
cultural purposes is still in its early stages, Sawatzke
NIR waves being bounced back, the farmer knows the
explained that training farmers to use it poses a chalplants are receiving the nutrients they need.
lenge because “everyone is learning it at the same
If more energy waves start to appear, however, the
time.” In addition, technology is continually worked
farmer can instantly tell which part of the field is sick,
and can treat that area quickly and precisely.
Drones can be used in a similar way when raising
livestock, such as monitoring body temperatures to
detect sick animals or locating them in spaces with a
lot of land.
Since drones cover large areas quickly, farmers no
Farm - Home - Commercial
longer have to spend time walking the fields to anaHouses, barns, storage buildings,
lyze crops and waterways, and can instead address
machine sheds, etc.
what needs attention immediately.
Some drones are also equipped with spot sprayers
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to directly target crops suffering from aphids or disBruce Raisanen Painting
ease, rather than taking sprayers to the field, which
Cokato, MN
allows farmers to reduce costs by using resources
more effectively and efficiently.
Cell: (320) 282-7386
However, because using this technology for agrihome/fax: (320) 286-5113
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