15 Ate Today? Thank a Farmer. Better Farming | August 2024 tom application model,” says Adam Pfeffer, a crop farmer near St. Thomas and market development manager at Bayer CropScience. “Dedicating a few full days to cover 100 acres when you can do it in a few hours with traditional equipment doesn’t make sense, but in Eastern Canada we have smaller fields. When you drive through and trample all that crop – that’s where I really see drones having an advantage.” Pfeffer also sees drones as useful in wet years, noting that drone operators were busy in 2023 when fields were too damp, and corn needed to be side- dressed with urea. How else are drones making farming easier? Scouting and mapping Drones give producers the ability to view and manage areas of their farms that are hard to access. Imaging was one of the first uses for drones and is often the primary introduction to drones for producers due to its affordability and ease of use. Hurtado says that drones are commonly used for scouting. “Drones give a perspective you can’t see from the ground, at a resolution you can’t get from manned aircraft or satellites,” explains Hurtado, who says that for producers who want a little more from these images there are also mapping options. This is a service that Hurtado provides at TerraNova UAV. “It’s not necessarily just a map, but it could also be analyzing the map and creating prescriptions and diagnosing what is happening with fields. We have other sensors that can provide even more info about plants. This helps farmers understand their fields much faster and take action more efficiently.” Mapping drones use extra programs to analyze the images collected by the technology. Some of these programs will assess crop health, crop emergence, and weed pressure. It can also be used by livestock farmers to find their herds on pasture or even look for specific animals by imaging ear tags. Application Farmers can take their drone maps one step further by using them to create prescriptions and following that up with precision application. Pfeffer has been working with Adrian Rivard of Drone Spray Canada to apply fertilizer to his corn crop for the previous two growing seasons and plans to do it again in 2024. “We specialize more in fertilizer application and seeding,” says Rivard. “Last year we did about 200,000 pounds of fertilizer on mostly corn, and this year we’ve already done about 100,000 pounds and haven’t touched corn yet. It’s not that drones are ever going to compete in acres per hour with conventional machines, but we are seeing a lot of headway when it’s too wet to get into the field. It opens new avenues.” Pfeffer says on his farm, drones have created new options for fertility timing on his corn. “Last spring I had Adrian spread AMIDAS, a nitrogen sulphate granule, in corn after tassel at the brown silk or R2/R3 Stage. He put 50 pounds an acre out and that provided a pretty nice yield punch,” says Pfeffer. “It’s a window in the corn crop that we haven’t been able to apply fertilizer in. High-clearance sprayers or Y-drops are good until the crop is about six to seven feet tall, but that’s still a few weeks away from when the crop needs it most. “I left some comparisons out in one field and they all came in positive, so I will be implementing this strategy again this year.” The technology has been improving rapidly for this application. Pfeffer says that when he first tried drone application of fertilizer in 2022, it was a smaller drone and the field required 276 refills to complete. Newer models with higher capacities have increased the efficiency, but still require a dedicated operator that has time to work with the technology. Rivard explains, “The T40 was last year’s big spray drone from DJI. The T50 is new this year. It’s adapted to handle higher spray volume. Before you could expect to apply two to three gallons per acre tops, but now more nozzles make the drones more conducive to spraying up to five gallons an acre.” He says that drone manufacturers have been responding well to feedback from farmers and applicators. Drone Spray Canada has also broadcasted seed from drones, which can allow producers to get a cover crop in after wheat or canola if the fields are too wet. Rivard says that they have also seeded rye into standing corn. DRONES: A NEW PERSPECTIVE Andres Hurtado and Alexandra Acosta of TerraNova UAV. Sandra Cardenas Photography
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