Drone/UAV Use for Spraying Crops
US soybean producers are constantly exploring new technology to determine its utility on their farms. Drones/UAV’s are one such new tool that has the potential to provide a new way of applying materials (e.g. pesticides) to a crop/field. Drones are currently used for scouting crop fields to assess crop health and provide imagery of those fields. A Mar. 19, 2020 article in Delta Farm Press by Brad Robb titled “Using drones efficiently on the farm” provides some insight into using this technology for precision work such as collecting imagery of fields and crops in those fields to accumulate data for specific uses.
A relatively new frontier for drone use in agriculture is the application of various materials–e.g. pesticides, seed--to a crop or field. Click here to access the website of Kiwi Technologies, one company that provides this service. They advertise “Efficient, Informed Application with Precise Full-field Coverage from the Air”. They use GPS and radar-guided drones to provide the exact coverage a producer specifies. The large drones they use can deliver up to 20 gallons of material/acre using typical nozzles and spray patterns. An advantage of this system is its ability to spray irregular-shaped fields and avoid obstacles and waterways because of the pathing capability of the equipment.
Volocopter is teaming with John Deere to build a Volodrone, which is a heavy-lift drone that is being designed for spraying crops. The version described in this article (Lavars, New Atlas, Nov. 2019) is capable of lifting payloads of up to 440 pounds, which is equivalent to about 44 gallons of liquid spray material. Thus, its utility for applying materials with a large carrier volume (e.g. >2 gal./acre) on a large acreage will be limited.
DroneAG advertises “Drones for Spraying–Targeted Aerial Application Over Any Terrain”. Their Model DJI T-16 has a maximum payload capacity of 16 liters (4.23 gal.) according to Mr. Alex Macdonald-Smith of Drong Ag Ltd. Thus, its present utility will be on very small acreages. Its strong point appears to be its versatility for spray applications to these small areas, plus like the drones from the above companies, it is fully automated and precise, and can target specific areas in larger fields.
The above companies are certainly not the only ones working with/developing drones for spraying. However, they are examples of what is presently being done and/or what is presently available for this purpose. It is likely that these and other companies will have systems in the near future that will increase the utility of drones for spraying crops and fields.
This article in no way infers that using drones for crop spraying is either legal or better than current ground and air application of spray materials. Rather, it is meant to provide the current status of this technology and its possible potential use in agriculture.
At this time, spraying agricultural chemicals by ground rig or airplane is the best fit for blanket applications on large fields in the Midsouth. But certainly the pathing capability and zero soil disturbance offered by drone applications makes them an attractive spraying technology to explore.
Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Mar. 2020, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net