In recent years, researchers have developed drones capable of detecting plant disease before crops show any visible signs of infection. These drones are equipped with highly-specialized sensors, which allow farmers to stop viruses, increase crop yield, and keep more money in their annual budgets.
Proactive Event Detection
In the world of supply chain logistics, proactive event detection has become a critical focus point: identify a problem before it becomes chronic, fix it, and move on. Now, this same rationale is being applied to the agriculture industry. While all farmers know that disease can negatively impact plant health long before the plant displays visible signs of sickness, it’s historically been impossible (or virtually impossible) to catch infections before they manifest physically.
Thankfully, many of today’s agricultural drones are equipped with cameras and special filters, which can detect subtle changes like leaf discoloration. Once these drones pick up signs of illness, they can communicate to farmers that it’s time to spray a field – allowing teams to get ahead of widespread disease and protect more of their crop each year.
Additionally, this targeted spraying information allows farmers to minimize their use of fungicides, and ensure that they’re spraying as effectively as possible.
Increasing Yields
If there’s anything that can damage a yield quickly, it’s an infection. Right now, the demand on yields is higher than ever, and crop disease is one thing standing in the way of farmers being able to meet that demand. As conditions like Septoria continue to rage through fields, farmers throughout the country watch their crops go to waste.
When farmers can equip themselves with drones and multispectral cameras, though, they can identify plant leaves with pathogens and nutrient stress, thereby growing more food, using land more efficiently, and supplying the public with the supplies needed for ongoing growth.
The Drones we Recommend
Not all drones are created equal, and not all our models will work well for agricultural plant mapping. If you’re interested in adding a drone to your farming operation, we recommend the following:
The Agras-Series
DJI Agras agricultural drones are designed for farmland management. Offering a built-in FPV camera and DBF imaging radar, this modular drone allows teams to survey fields efficiently and distribute chemicals at calculated, exact rates.
Aerovironment Series
A simple yet powerful drone, the Aerovironment Quantix series is capable of collecting a wealth of actionable information for farmers. Featuring AV DSS software for precision AG imaging and the ability to scout 400 acres of crops in a mere 45 minutes, this drone is one of our top-sellers.
DJI Inspire Series
Offering the capacity for 4K video and 12-megapixel still photos, the DJI Inspire series allows teams to gather comprehensive agricultural data for better farm management. Complete with near-infrared imagery and a modified X3 camera, this drone will make short work of surveying jobs.
While drones are a powerful tool in their own regard, equipping them with crop-sensing software makes them the ideal equipment for farmers who want to survey their fields more effectively than ever before. Identify signs of crop disease, increase your yield, and keep your fields healthier with a drone from our extensive agricultural selection.
