Drones: How Can They Make Farming Easier?

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Filling In The Gaps & ‘Opening New Avenues.’

By Emily Croft

Drones have been creating a lot of buzz in agriculture for over a decade now. Most of the machines were initially purchased for entertainment, but their uses have evolved over time, earning them a reputation for making farming easier.

“There’s been an interesting transformation of drones being used in ag,” says Andres Hurtado, co- founder of TerraNova UAV.

“I would say eight to 10 years ago, drones had just started to appear. Everyone wanted to have a drone back then, but then we saw it starting to die down. Farmers who are spending most of the day planting or spraying don’t have as much time to fly drones, and what we saw was, after two or three flights, they were gathering dust in a closet.

“Now we are seeing opportunity in spraying. Drones are gaining popularity, but we are still waiting to see market uptake to know if farmers are willing to buy this brand-new piece of equipment that works different than a ground sprayer and requires additional training.”

While technology has advanced, at this stage drones are unlikely to replace field-scale equipment on the ground. Instead, these machines are filling in the gaps where large equipment can’t or shouldn’t access.

“Things are improving but are not there yet,” says Jason Deveau, application technology specialist at OMAFA and co-administrator of Sprayers 101. He emphasizes that improvements and research are still needed to ensure efficacy and safety with spray drones.

“There are definitely opportunities. These things fly – they can go where traditional equipment can’t and go where some poor person in a backpack sprayer and Tyvek suit would be exposed. When push comes to shove, spot spraying, places that are unsuited or dangerous for spraying, or perennial horticulture crops are where the big opportunities are in agriculture for drones.”

With refinement, drones can allow farmers to manage some of their acres better.

“I see it as a very specialized custom 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.

One more niche product that can be applied by drone is greenhouse covering, which decreases the intensity of the sun during the summer months.

“Spray drones are really well suited to these special projects, and it makes it easier to get in and get the job done,” says Rivard.

Spraying and crop protection

The future of spray drones is the source of much of the excitement surrounding drones. Currently, no products covered under the Pest Control Products Act are approved for application by drone in Canada. Farmers are eager for these regulations to catch up.

“Registrations are coming but it’s not for agricultural products,” says Deveau. Currently the only approved products are larvicides for mosquitos, and the next products to become legal to spray by drone will likely be for industrial vegetative management.

“As registrants get more comfortable and as products slowly get registered, that becomes precedence and as info comes in about agricultural products, things will snowball.”

Deveau explains that to have more products available for drone spraying, registrants need to ask Health Canada what information they need, and a variety of research will need to take place to generate that data.

This research should also help refine and improve the ability of drones to spray crops.

Currently there are concerns about spray swath and application consistency that come from the many variables associated with drone application.

“With drones, so many things interfere with how the crop is sprayed – how the rotors turn, drone speed, the amount of fluid being carried, wind, and the direction of the drone,” says Deveau, who explains that rates across the swath are currently inconsistent, with the majority of the product distributed directly under the drone.

“We don’t have a good idea of how big the swath is, and with spraying, there is nothing more important than knowing the rate of application.”

He also explains that he has concerns about coverage. With drones carrying lower volumes of liquid than large-scale machines, the product is less diluted. Products sprayed by drones are more concentrated and often result in significantly fewer droplets per square foot than conventional methods.

While more information is necessary to ensure drones can safely and efficiently apply crop protection products, Pfeffer says it’s also in the registrants’ best interest to generate this info.

“As registrants, we want things to come through the right channels and get approved and provide parameters on when and how to apply, and how to get the best outcome,” says Pfeffer.

“As with any technology, things do improve. I’m excited for the equipment that is available today and the capacity now is workable. It’s much better than two to three years ago. What does 10 years from now look like?”

He says he sees a lot of opportunity for developments in automation of the reloading and charging process. Pfeffer emphasizes that drones likely won’t replace ground sprayers.

“I think where drones come in is filling in the cracks. They won’t replace anything large-scale, but the corners, tough-to-get-at places, and small fields, is where they can excel.

“And I’m also thinking about disease development – like tar spot. It’s getting difficult to manage and stretching our current application abilities, but any extra tools will be needed especially for diseases like that.”

Barriers

Besides the previously discussed limitations in spray drones, including regulations and data supporting coverage, there are a few other barriers that may make farmers hesitant to make a major drone purchase.

TerraNova UAV’s Hurtado says that the training and attention required may make drones unsuited to the workflows of some operations.

“How do you implement this technology in the middle of spraying, seeding, or scouting? How do you implement buying the drone, flying it, maintaining it, and potentially analyzing and getting information from it?” asks Hurtado.

“With spraying you also need a certain level of knowledge for programming the machine, an understanding of how the drone works, and the time to learn the equipment.”

Hurtado says that producers who are looking at implementing drones should ask questions like, ‘Will I have time to go through everything to make sure it operates safely? Is it doing the task properly? Am I planning ahead for maintenance? Am I trained to fly a drone?’

If workflow is a challenge, using custom operators may be a solution to ensure that the job is done well, without tying up farm labour.

Another limitation is flight regulations. For the safety of airspace and those around the drone operator, Transport Canada requires operators with drones between 250 g and 25 kg to test for a drone pilot licence. This test can be written online and is relatively attainable with some training and studying. Drones over 25 kg will also require a Special Flight Operations Certificate, with details of operator experience and flight plans.

Some of these barriers are already being addressed by the industry.

Rivard believes that drone interest will rapidly increase once fungicides can be legally sprayed, and Hurtado says that the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council is working at developing standards for agricultural drone operators, which can address training concerns.

As research and advances in technology refine swath width and spray consistency, and ensure safety, the buzz around drones might continue to grow.

As smaller machines, drones are able to fill in the gaps where larger equipment could trample crops or damage fields. They provide perspectives and access to new parts of the farm and new opportunities for application timing. BF