Drones and artificial intelligence (AI) are now being used to measure soybeans’ maturity in less time while doing so accurately. Current methods require people to spend hours in the sun every day to check the soybeans. The drones have cut the time down to just two days without the need for anyone on the ground.
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Agriculture students attending Hutchinson Community College (HCC) in Kansas, are now learning to fly drones and receive their FAA drone licenses to get prepared for a future of drones in the industry. Students have already been enjoying the class so much that they plan on implementing drones on their families’ farms.
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XAG drones will be helping Aussie farmers to reduce chemical and water usage after a tough three farming seasons hit by bushfires, droughts, and COVID. The drones will be used to map hard to reach locations and drop seeds to restore empty fields.
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Drones and wasps are being used in eastern Australia to reduce the amount of chemicals used in farming in order to lessen the damage caused to the Great Barrier Reef. The drones are being used to drop loads of wasps that will then attack the pest insects destroying the crops.
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China’s rural population is diminishing and aging as young people move to the cities for better opportunities. That leaves a potential labor shortage for traditional agriculture such as rice planting. Now drone maker XAG claims it has a solution.
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India‘s agriculture ministry is looking to drone technology to fight against locust swarms that have infested the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh. India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has given the go-ahead for the drones to be used in the fight.
Researchers have succeeded in getting a drone to wake up and even recharge environmental sensors using radio waves during a flyby. This could provide a new way to manage a large number of sensors with ease, especially in an agriculture use case.
Pyka is taking on the crop-spraying business with its autonomous crop drone, which is capable of spraying 135 acres in an hour. The drone removes the danger for pilots who fly a few meters from the ground and reduces costs.
DJI recently launched what seems to be a massive agriculture drone in China. It is called the T16 and the video below explains everything in great detail to anybody who can understand Chinese. Unfortunately, that does not include me. However, there are a few things that become clear as you watch the video.
There are nearly 15 million farmers in India who grow corn, which is considered to be the third most important crop, just behind wheat and rice. When you think of drones being used in agriculture, you probably assume it’s a huge octocopter flying just above the plants spraying either water or pesticides. Instead, companies like Skylark and Syngenta are using drones to collect real-time data about how to increase productivity and identify dying plants.
For the last 107 years, the apple orchard Beak & Skiff in Central New York has used bees to pollinate their apple trees. Each year, during spring when the orchards are in bloom there is only a short period that is the most optimal time to pollinate the apple trees. The success of the pollination is heavily dependent on the bee activity in the area. To take some of that uncertainty out of the equation, they tried something new this year. Fresh Fruit Operations at Beak & Skiff Orchards hired NY Genius finalist Dropcopter to pollinate their apple trees with a drone.
Oakland University professor Jon Carroll, Ph.D., is bringing agricultural drone technology, that is widely used in the US to Africa. The anthropology professor traveled to Liwonde, Malawi to help farmers optimize their crop production by using drone technology and to promote sustainable agriculture in Africa.
Yamaha makes a lot more than motorbikes, outboard engines, and watercrafts. Apparently, they make drones now as well. At CES 2018, they were showing off a new drone, the YMR-01, for pesticide application in the agricultural industry. Since the nineties, Yamaha had been using the R-Max remote helicopter to do the same but a drone should be easier to fly and therefore offer a larger market for Yamaha to cater to.
The Yamaha YMR-01 features an interesting rotor design with six arms but eight rotors. The double rotors in the middle are called“vertical coaxial” rotors. Yamaha states that the design of the drone is to create the most effective downward air currents for optimal application of pesticides. Smart.
A few weeks ago, during a press event in China, Shenzhen-based DJI Technology Co. Ltd. announced three new agricultural drones: the MG-1S Advanced, the MG-1P, and the MG-1P RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) version. These drones can be used for monitoring crops as well as spraying pesticides. DJI will price these new unmanned aerial vehicles 12% less expensive than their previous models launched in November 2016. These new low prices have drawn the attention from competitors who have stated that the Chinese drone maker is “disturbing the industry.”
At the DJI press event in Shenzhen, China last week, the Chinese drone manufacturer announced the following drones aimed at the agricultural market, the MG-1S Advanced, the MG-1P and the MG-1P RTK. It seems that these drones will be available soon for the Chinese market. No word, however on when and if these drones may come to the US.
DJI seems to be on a roll this week. Next, to the new DJI Phantom 4 RTK, the Chinese drone manufacturer also launched two new agricultural drones, MG-1S Advanced and the MG-1P. Both drones use advanced technologies that promise to significantly enhance agricultural production efficiency, such as spraying pesticide on crops.
