The Top Four Reasons to Use Drones in Agriculture

Drones bring many benefits to agriculture, with precision farming being the most significant. Through drone surveillance, precision agriculture improves production, quality, crop yield, and revenue.

According to analysts, drones are heavily utilized in precision agriculture and are anticipated to reach a value of $5 billion by 2025.

1. Drones analyze the farm accurately

Drone photogrammetry is a technique that helps farmers and agricultural experts create highly accurate maps called orthomosaics. A topographical map of the farmland is created by stitching together drone images captured by Pix4DFields or Drone Deploy software. Various types of cameras can be installed on drones, including RGB-MS and thermal cameras, making it possible for farmers to access different types of data.

Farmers can make necessary adjustments based on these maps to keep their land healthy and productive. The ease with which drones operate allows farmers to obtain as much field data as they need. It enables them to identify problems immediately and devise a plan of action to limit any negative impact these issues might have. Farmers can also use Nighttime Surveillance Drones to keep an eye on the crops during nighttime.

2. The use of drones saves time and money

Smart technology reduces the time it takes to perform agricultural tasks. Maps, surveillance, and crop spraying are accomplished much more efficiently with drones than with manned aircraft. In addition, drones also help in planting seeds, spraying crops with pesticides, fertilizers, and water. With the intelligent flight modes available for many of these operations, farmers can save money on labor equipment by reducing field time.

3. Crop yields increase 

With the help of drones, farmers can easily collect crop data, allowing them to keep track of irrigation problems, disease outbreaks, and soil conditions. All of these factors must be at optimal levels for crops to thrive so that farmers can maximize crop yields.

Using data-driven variable rate prescription, farmers and agronomists can increase crop yield through precision agriculture. With remote sensing, farmers can quickly find out what is causing unhealthy crops, identify the problem and only treat the crops where needed. It improves crop quality, increases yield, and saves money over time.

4. Drones are the safest way to spray crops

Smart drones also come with autonomous flight modes. It will allow farmers to plan flight paths only around areas that require treatment and leave the healthy parts of the field free from unnecessary chemicals. Not only is this a safer way to treat crops. Farmers will also save money by not wasting treatment on plants that don’t need it.

Farmers always face pests and diseases issues. To get rid of these issues, manual chemical application is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In comparison, drones are more effective and safer for treating infected plants. The drones have autonomous flight modes that allow farmers to fly over only the damaged crops, leaving the healthy ones alone. Using this method will make crop treatments safer and more economical as farmers won’t invest in treating plants that do not need it.

Conclusion

For farmers and agronomists, drones are an invaluable tool that assesses the health of their crops. They assist farmers with getting a better understanding of their fields and collecting data more efficiently and faster than traditional methods. Drones also enable farmers to evaluate the health of their plants. Identify essential nutrients and water, and find out if there are any pest problems before they get out of control.

Farmers can save money by using drone services to identify problems they might have missed otherwise. The crop losses could cost thousands of dollars if they didn’t catch issues in time.