Drone technology helps the agriculture sector to boost produce and harvest. Read on to find out how this can help your farm, too.

1. How Drone Technology Is Improving
Agriculture Industry?

2. Precision Farming Drones
Drone use in many sectors is becoming mainstream, and it will only become more
popular on a larger scale. The real-time information they provide allows farmers to
make better agronomic decisions in the agriculture industry.
This aerial technology has led to the rise of precision agriculture, allowing farmers to
maintain profits while practicing sustainable farming. Drones, of course, play a
massive part in this.
Precision farming drones are a valuable tool for small- and large-scale farmers alike.
They offer access to high-tech sensors, steering systems, and even farm
management software, all in one little package.

3. Why Drones?
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, are small aerial platforms weighing
less than 20 kilograms. You can control them via a wireless remote or a pre-
programmed flight path.
While initial designs are light, we know that drones today can be more than just
flying cameras. They can revolutionize entire industries with a few tweaks in their
design.
However, in agriculture, drones have proven beneficial in helping farmers attain
high-yielding harvests.

4. Ways That Drones Can Improve
Farming:
 Spraying – Farmers can outfit drones with tanks of fertilizers and pesticides, as
well as seed containers. It automates the process and makes it more cost-
effective than traditional spraying methods.
 Surveying – This purpose is relatively straightforward. Drones automatically take
pictures using sensors and built-in cameras mid-flight. However, aerial
surveying allows farmers to monitor crop health and growth more efficiently.
 Mapping – High-resolution, multispectral maps can be made using drones,
regardless of cloud cover. They provide many options for different tasks, such
as field management and soil inspection.

5. Data, Agriculture, and Your Farm
A drone for agriculture purposes mainly provides real-time data for farmers. But how
important is data?
The answer is that it’s more important than you think. Drones can do far more than take
high-resolution images covering a large area. They can take these images of crop
conditions in different bands.
These bands range from visible (RGB) light to near-infrared and infrared spectrum. Once
the images are taken, they can be converted via software into prescription maps or
“normalized differential vegetation index” (NDVI).
Depending on the operation that farmers want to perform, drones can take different
images. These can yield different results and create various maps. These maps can then
inform the farmer what inputs to apply, such as seeds, fertilizers, or pesticides.

6. Farming Drones Improve the Food and
Crops Industry?
Agriculture drones take farming to an entirely new level. Not only are they cost-
effective in collecting data in a short period, but they also make farming more
sustainable. In addition to that, the real-time information that drones provide can
optimize farm productivity.

7. Changing The Landscape Of
Agriculture:
Precision
Precision farming drones allow farmers to monitor crop and livestock conditions by
air. Thanks to their built-in sensors and cameras, farmers can find problems faster
than it would typically take with most ground-level spot checks.
Because they can fly at high altitudes, drones are also great for gathering raw
data, such as the following:
 Crop health – Built-in imaging equipment uses detailed color information to
detect plant damage due to pests and pest-related infections.
 Soil analysis – Managing plant nutrients need not be laborious. Drones can
photograph and detect color changes in the soil.
 Vegetation indices – Factors like plant height, leaf area, and yield are all
measured more easily via aerial survey.
 Water and irrigation needs – Water-stressed areas in a field or orchard show as a
different color in near-infrared or infrared imaging

8. Efficiency
Using a drone for agriculture purposes ensures cost-efficiency, which comes from
how agriculture is time and labor-intensive.
Additionally, the cost of materials and equipment from planting to harvesting also
puts pressure on farmers to pursue profitability. Agriculture, like other industries, relies
on cost-effective methods and multipurpose tools.
Having drones provide real-time data saves farmers time and resources like
fertilizer, pesticides, and water. Farmers can even automate the monitoring process
by pre-programming flight paths based on GPS data.
This automatic programming results in the optimal use of inputs, the timely
protection of crops, and securing high yields.

9. Versatility
While most drones are strong enough to lift themselves, other drones have enough
lift capacity to carry small payloads. It allows them to transport cargo from one
place to another in many industries.
An agriculture drone is capable of various things, like other industrial equipment.
Powerful rotors allow for spraying and seeding, while powerful cameras and
sensors allow mapping and surveying.
Drones can also be outfitted and paired with different software. Features like
Bluetooth connectivity and cloud storage allow farmers to save this data and
monitor changes over time.
In addition to this, drones can also work with farm sensors and GPS systems to
create extensive soil maps. It is a process known as “geo-mapping” and gives
farmers access to data like pH values and pest infestations.

10. The Takeaway
Agriculture has always been labor- and time-intensive. Aside from sunlight, water, and
nutrients, growing crops requires careful soil preparation, planting, crop protection, and
even fertilization.
Because of this, traditional farming tools have continuously given way to more
advanced and cost-effective farming implements. Changing climate conditions also
mean that farmers need to adopt more sustainable practices.
While there are risks and limitations, precision drone in farming also offers great
potential, especially in production.
When all of this is considered, it makes sense for a farmer to deploy a drone for
agriculture purposes. It gives them the much-needed efficiency and pushes them to
make their farms productive.
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