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The Rise of The Drones in Agriculture

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The Rise of The Drones in Agriculture

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Farzul Arafin
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Cronicon O P EN A C C ESS AGRICULTURE

Editorial
The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture
Frank Veroustraete*
Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Belgium

*Corresponding Author: Frank Veroustraete, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171,
2020 Antwerp, Belgium.

Received: September 15, 2015; Published: September 16, 2015

Figure: 1.

Introduction
Drones Create the Expectation of a Large Swing in the Way We Grow Crops
For years now, drone advocates have cited precision agriculture - crop management that uses GPS and big data - as a way to increase
crop yield while resolving water and food crises. Unfortunately, drones haven’t had a significant impact on agricultural practices, at least
until recently. A lot is happening lately on the subject of drone applications in agriculture and precision farming. From the ability to im-
age, recreate and analyze individual leaves on a corn plant from 120 meters height, to getting information on the water-holding capacity
of soils to variable-rate water applications, agricultural practices are changing due to drones delivering agricultural intelligence for both
farmers and agricultural consultants.

Unfortunately, many of the promises being made to farmers, drone service providers simply couldn’t deliver, even backed up by
proper research yet. Until now airspace controllers did not open segments of airspace above agricultural areas for commercial drone ag-
ricultural research to take place. A shift in regulatory policy in this respect allows certified drone service provider firms - many of which
are in a start-up phase - to assist both large and small farming operations with water and disease management and a charge for these
services. The service providers - with an open airspace to a specific flight height will also be able to use drones to provide better planting
and crop rotation strategies and to provide a higher degree of all-around monitoring of how crops are progressing on a day-to-day basis
in different parts of a given crop field, as well.

In the coming years all of the possible uses for drones will be fleshed out by drone service providers and farmers itself. A boost in crop
intelligence will make farms more efficient and help smaller operations compete with their more well-heeled Big Agriculture competi-
tors.

Citation: Frank Veroustraete. “The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture”. EC Agriculture 2.2 (2015): 325-327.
The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture
326

A widely-cited drone report released by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International predicts that the legalization
of commercial drones will create more than €70 billion in economic impact (such as revenues, job creation) between 2015 and 2025,
and that precision agriculture will provide the biggest piece of that growth. For now here are five drone agricultural applications already
being implemented in the field.

Drone Applications in Agriculture


Mid-Season Crop Health Monitoring
The ability to inspect in-progress crops from about 100 meters height using Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) or near-
infrared (NIR) sensors is, thus far, the premier application for drones in farming. This was a task traditionally performed by often-reluc-
tant college interns walking into the fields with a notepad. Drones from the present generation, allow for coverage of more surface area
in a much shorter time stretch, as well as the capturing of data that cannot be seen by the human eye (like the NDVI or near-infrared).
Moreover, it removes much of the human error aspect of traditional inventory work, though a physical inspection of an area of concern
after viewing the imagery is still recommended.

Irrigation Equipment Monitoring


Managing multiple irrigation pivots is well...., it is laborious, especially for large growers with many fields spread out across a county
or region. Once crops like corn begin reaching certain heights, mid-season inspections of the nozzles and sprinklers on irrigation equip-
ment that deliver the much-needed water really becomes a painstaking exercise.

Mid-Field Weed Identification


Using NDVI sensor data and post-flight image processing to create a weed map, farmers and their agronomists can easily differenti-
ate areas of high-intensity weed proliferation from healthy crop areas growing right alongside them. Historically, many farmers haven’t
realized how pronounced their weed problem is until harvesting was performed.

Figure: 2.

Variable-Rate Fertility
Though many will argue that ground-based inspections combined with satellite imagery, along with a dedicated grid soil sampling
program is more practical for the purpose of refining Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium applications in agriculture, drones do have
their fit. A drone service start-up company in the US has used NDVI maps to direct in-season fertilizer applications on corn and other
crops. By using drone-generated, variable-rate application (VRA) maps to determine the strength of nutrient uptake within a single field,
the farmer can apply 300 kg/ha of fertilizer to struggling areas, 200 kg/ha to medium quality areas, and 150 kg/ha to healthy areas,
decreasing fertilizer costs and increasing yield.

Cattle Herd Monitoring


Many growers during periods of depressed commodity prices made the call to diversify their farms by adding cattle or swine opera-
tions. Drones are a solid option for monitoring herds from overhead, tracking the quantity and activity level of animals on one’s fields.
They are especially helpful for night-time monitoring due to a human’s eye’s inability to see in the dark.

Citation: Frank Veroustraete. “The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture”. EC Agriculture 2.2 (2015): 325-327.
The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture
327

Conclusion
As conclusion, it can be stated that as the calendar starts to turn to 2016, the examples given in this Editorial are current and com-
mon uses for drones in precision agriculture. This application list is bound to undergo quite some growth in the near-future as more
and more research takes place and will take place and certainly when in the European Union, airspace will be opened for certified drone
equipped agricultural service providers.

Bibliography
1. Colomina I and Molina P. “Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review”. ISPRS Journal of Photo-
grammetry and Remote Sensing 92 (2014): 79-97.
2. Jenkins D and Vasigh B. The AUVSI Economic Report (2013). The Economic Impact of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in
the United States (2013). Association for Unmanned Vehicles Association International.
3. Robert Pierre C. “Precision agriculture: new developments and needs in remote sensing and technologies”. Ecosystems’ Dynamics,
Agricultural Remote Sensing, Modelling and Site-Specific Agriculture 5153 (2004).
4. Stehr Nikki J. “Drones: The Newest Technology for Precision Agriculture”. American Society of Agronomy, Natural Sciences 44.1
(2015): 89-91.
5. Urbahs Aleksandrs and Jonaite Ieva. “Features of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for agriculture applications”. Aviation 17.4
(2013): 170-175.

Volume 2 Issue 2 September 2015


© All rights are reserved by Frank Veroustraete.

Citation: Frank Veroustraete. “The Rise of the Drones in Agriculture”. EC Agriculture 2.2 (2015): 325-327.

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