•••
F UT UR E F OC U S
“
DATA COLLECTED FROM DRONES HAS HELPED
FARMERS DETERMINE WHAT PARTS OF THEIR
FIELDS NEED FERTILIZER AND HOW MUCH THE
APPLICATION SHOULD BE.
about - and I couldn’t wait to
rush out to the exhibition tent
where the drone had settled
because a strong wind had blown
up. (I think the young men on
duty were rather startled by this
excited ‘old’ lady rushing up to
them and gushing in awe at the
tiny, powerful, beautiful little
thing in her hands that looked
like a sophisticated plaything...
definitely still not enough female
farmers in my corner of the
world!!!) (Oh and yes, it still
costs a small fortune here in
South Africa and that is without
any sophisticated data gathering
devises attached to it - that one
only takes aerial film footage!!!)
But... be sure of one thing,
farmers will be buying them
and budgeting for them soon in
the same way they budget for
massive tractors and high rise
spray machines today, of this
I am convinced. Drone use in
agriculture is not a far-fetched,
unrealistic idea anymore!
Brett Johnson is a maize and
soybean farmer in Iowa. He
owns a precision agriculture
company and says he is always
on the lookout for ways to do
something better. In 2013 he
bought a drone for $30,000
which he says is already paying
dividends on his farm. He uses
the drone, which covers 80 acres
per hour, to study how yields
on his property are affected by
changes in topography. He has
identified some areas where
the maize stand was not as
strong as it should have been,
50
”
and this will inform his future
planting decisions as to whether
he will replant or avoid those
acreages altogether. He also
uses the drone to scout early
for any problems in the fields.
Some farmers will probably do
the same as Johnson and buy
their own drones, but there is
also a strong possibility that
farmers could hire the services
of a company specialising in this
niche market particularly since
skills are needed not only to
operate these complex machines,
but also to interpret the data.
This collecting of data has a
major role to play in farming
efficiently and allowing for the
prevention of costly wastage.
Data collected from drones
has helped farmers determine
what parts of their fields
need fertilizer and how much
the application should be.
Drones can offer cheap aerial
photography and film footage
with both regular and infrared cameras. Analysis of the
photos can provide farmers
with previously unattainable
information and enhance crop
monitoring abilities. All farmers
know the value of scouting
their crops on a regular basis
through the growing season,
but few have the spare time
to cover the hectares on foot
properly – with a drone or
UAV, hundreds of hectares
can be captured in a single
flight. Drones therefore afford
farmers huge opportunities: 1)
accurate information on tap, 2)
June/July 2015 • SENWES Scenario
optimal applications on water,
seed, fertilisers and chemicals,
3) boosting yields and 4)
contributing to the preservation
and conservation of water.
Todd Janzen, farm boy
and Indianapolis agricultural
attorney, writes an agricultural
law blog spot for producers
and organizations and believes
these UAV’s are ‘a huge deal’.
They are exploding onto the
scene with immense promise
for agriculture, but drone
technology is still widely
subjected to stringent controls
due to widespread privacy
issues. In America the farmers
still have to follow the Federal
Aviation Administration’s (FAA)
“hobby rules”. The Association
for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International is pressing the
FAA to allow limited drone
use for some operations like
farming and movie-making,
but the wheels are grinding
very slowly. There are notable
exceptions in other countries
including Canada, Australia,
Brazil and Japan which
already use drones widely for
agricultural purposes. Although
the operation of drones in civil
airspace is restricted, farmers
may be surprised to learn
that the South African Civil
Aviation Authority (SACAA)
is one of the first regulatory
bodies worldwide to submit
draft regulations for the use of
drones in civil airspace. The
SACAA says it anticipates rapid
changes as drones are a new
phenomenon and regulations
need to adjust to circumstances.
It has been said that if
precision farming has driven
the farming revolution of
recent years then monitoring
crops from the sky will
drive the next!