The Future of Farming

Drone services can be thought of as analytical and application services. Analytical services include scouting the farm and taking multispectral images for individual fields. These images or templates are stored first for comparison to future images and to serve as a reference that will be loaded into a spray drone for applications. Application services would include autonomous spraying of liquid or spreading granular products.

What benefits and savings can be expected?

• Low cost of drone applications as compared to helicopter labor
• Use of tactical spot treatments rather than treating the entire field
• Saving in chemicals and applied products
• Lower the environmental footprint of the farm

One of our primary services is aimed at the agriculture market. We use agricultural drones equipped with multispectral cameras to take images across a range of wavelengths that can be analyzed for crop health. This technology allows farmers to detect crop stress early on, which can significantly impact their yield and overall profits. 

Farmers are constantly on the lookout for crop stress, which can be caused by critter infestation, the need for fertilizer, herbicide, water, or physical damage. By using multispectral technology, we can identify these stressors weeks before they may be visible to the human eye. This early detection allows growers to take necessary steps to address the issue and potentially save their crops. 

The most important factor of Precision Farming is knowing what’s going on across a broad spectrum of issues, some that can cause stress in crops and turf. Plant stress is likely caused by a lack of nutrients, infestation, disease, weeds or perhaps just a need for water. No matter the issue each has a direct impact on the health of the plant that can be gauged by measuring the amount of chlorophyl in the leaf or top canopy of leafy growth. We measure chlorophyl indirectly by taking multispectral photos in infra-red and other non-visible wavelengths. These photos can show clear distinctions between healthy and stressed crops.

Some stress conditions spread quickly over weeks or days; most start damaging crops and turf before the condition can be seen. Frequent multispectral imaging, several times per season, can detect areas of stress before visible to the naked eye. This early insight offers growers information they can use to take preemptive action with – fertilizers, pesticides or water – targeted to the specific areas requiring attention. By targeting specific areas early with low cost aerial treatments, farmers report significant savings in treatment costs.