Drones: How Can They Make Farming Easier?

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

‘People assume drones are for young people, but the older generation tends to drive adoption.’

By Emily Croft

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been creating a lot of buzz in agriculture for over a decade now. Most drones were initially purchased for entertainment, but their uses have evolved. How can UAVs be used to make farming easier across the Prairies?

Scouting, mapping, and application of seed and fertilizer can all be performed by drones. They also have spraying capabilities – the source of much of the drone excitement — but spraying pesticides remains illegal in Canada.

To make the most of potential financial, time, and labour savings, it’s important to have a strategy for managing data and using drones as a tool.

“When drones first became a consumer item and farmers started buying them off the shelf – it was typically the first workhorse imaging drone that farmers were using – they were saying ‘Oh my goodness, I can see my fields from above,” recalls Tom Wolf, professional agrologist and sprayer technology specialist with Sprayers 101.

“The farmers with drones don’t really fly them anymore because they don’t know what to do with the info. How do you analyze the data? How do you use it to change the way you farm? What tools do you have to work with? That’s the sticking point.”

Dr. Steve Shirtliffe, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at University of Saskatchewan, agrees that if producers want more than images, they need to manage information.

“You have to have a workflow figured out,” says Shirtliffe.

“Photos don’t do much good. There’s nothing wrong with them and they can provide producers with a lot of entertainment – but to use them for scouting and mapping they have to have a plan for analyzing data and turning that into actionable information.”

Putting drones to use in a meaningful manner requires thought and planning, but producers have already been using them to increase their efficiency and reduce labour across Western Canada.

Scouting and mapping

Scouting and aerial photography are some of the longest-standing uses of drones in agriculture.

“Scouting is what brought us into the drone world,” says Markus Weber, president of LandView Drones in Alberta.

“Scouting is what most people think of when they think of drones in agriculture. A camera or sensor is flown above the land, and the farmer or rancher sees what the drone sees. It can be reading an ear tag on an animal or finding animals on pasture. For crops, it can be figuring out the weed profile.

“Those functions are the easiest for people to grasp. They don’t require data but give access to hard-to-access areas and speed up processes.”

Weber says that an estimated 40 per cent of farms own drones, with most producers using them recreationally or for scouting.

Shirtliffe’s lab at USask has been working on using drones to monitor crops. This takes drone use one step further, creating data to manage fields more precisely.

“Our one study is a proof-of-concept project using UAVs as a tool to help assess emergence of canola,” says Shirtliffe.

“This is a common task that an agronomist would have to do. Canola can emerge unevenly, and fields are large and can be wet, so the agronomist maybe can’t access it all. For the study, we wanted to work out a methodology to figure out how to do that with drones.”

Shirtliffe’s team collaborated with a group from the Department of Computer Science and used commercially available software to take high-resolution images of various areas of the field, similar to an agronomist using quadrats. They then worked with computer scientists to create a program to count canola plants and distinguish them from weeds to calculate total ground cover and canola emergence.

“Because it was proof of concept, the program is not commercially available yet. We are hoping to develop something we can release, but we have shown it’s a viable option,” says Shirtliffe.

“It shows that drones can be a tool to help crop scouting. It’s never going to replace boots on the ground, but it can help farmers cover more land.”

With similar technology, drones can be used for mapping fields. Shirtliffe’s lab is also working on using drones for mapping kochia in fields.

“Our current research project is mapping kochia in crops to determine optimal timing and site-specific weed control. Kochia is resistant to a lot and can be expensive to manage, so this mapping could save farmers a lot of money.”

Weber adds that mapping farms requires additional software.

“Mapping becomes possible when a drone manufacturer allows for software to be written to automate the flight of the drone. The user outlines the quarter section they want flown, tells it the desired altitude, and hits start. The drone collects the data, and the software is available for analytics,” says Weber.

He says that drones can map elevation, assess crop health, and quantify damage to the crop. The data from maps can be used to create plans for variable rate application of inputs.

Seeding

In recent years, the development of higher capacity drones has led to UAVs capable of crop input application, including seeding.

“Most of the seeding I’ve seen has been not of primary crop, but cover crops or adding legumes into pasture,” says Weber, noting that producers should remember the germination implications of broadcasting seed.

“Ultimately seed to soil contact is very important for germination, so if you can harrow in seeds or seed with a planter, you’ll get better germination than broadcast seeding, but drone application does work incredibly well within a standing crop.”

Weber explains that drone technology has been rapidly improving for this purpose.

“The equipment has really matured. Producers just need to do a calibration of the spin spreader, which is automated by software, and need to confirm the spread pattern. There’s a little bit of learning, but it’s not any different than calibrating spin spreaders for ground equipment.”

Many livestock farmers are using drones to improve their pastures and extend their grazing seasons.

“Some people will do upwards of 10,000 acres to improve forage quality and quantity,” says Weber.

“There’s also a lot of funding for these projects to go along with the climate change element.”

Weber specifies that these grants and programs would typically be available for seeding, rather than buying a drone.

The increased capabilities of these drones, along with greater size required to carry seed, means that these drones can have a higher price tag than drones for mapping or scouting. Weber says that generally, a drone for scouting could be acquired for $5,000, a mapping drone may cost between $5,000 and $20,000, and drones with application capabilities cost around $40,000.

As this investment may not be reasonable for the purposes of seeding cover crops and pasture on a single farm, there are companies that offer custom drone seeding services.

Spraying

Spraying and application by drone is the source of much of the UAV excitement in agriculture.

Currently, no products covered under the Pest Control Products Act are approved for application by drone in Canada. Farmers are eager for regulations to catch up, recognizing the potential labour and cost savings of spraying with UAV technology.

“The hardware is more affordable than a ground sprayer,” says Weber.

“If producers spend $40,000 for the drone, plus $20,000 for a trailer and tank to go with it, that’s a total investment of $60,000 for a farm of around 2,000 acres. A ground sprayer would be way more.”

Wolf says that increasing input costs might increase interest in drones.

“A lot of things have to fall into place for these technologies to be really usable. What we were waiting for was agronomic reasons,” says Wolf.

“When spot-spray technology started, Round Up was $30 per acre and then it plummeted to five dollars. Why would you spot-spray something so cheap? I think herbicide resistance is an issue that’s changing all that.

“The ability to kill weeds with a tank mix is gone and now that’s making herbicide expensive. Now spot-spraying makes sense. If a spray drone costs $35,000 – that’s affordable to work with. I can spot-spray my low spots or I can go back to the field where rain came before I finished spraying. That’s what people are thinking right now, and drones do make sense for that.”

Weber says there are also convenience factors that interest farmers.

“You can get spraying at times when you could not be spraying with a ground sprayer,” says Weber.

“In regions with a lot of rain, drone spraying doesn’t require soil contact and you don’t need to wait for the ground to dry.

“You are also not trampling crop when applying a desiccant, fungicide, or insecticide. Usually, two to three per cent of a field will be trampled by sprayer tracks.”

He has seen the most interest in drone spraying from the older generations of farmers.

“I’ve noticed the older farmers tend to see more value in drones. People assume drones are for young people, but the older generation tends to drive adoption.

“Keeping costs down is a big motivation for drone use. They are a low-cost investment and that’s why older farmers see the value in them.”

Regulations and barriers

While many producers are currently realizing the benefits of drones, there are still regulations and barriers that limit their utility.

Transport Canada has three size categories for drones.

The smallest size, less than 250 g, does not require a special licence. These may have cameras that can be used recreationally or for scouting.

The next size category is 250 g to 25 kg. Drones in this category require a basic licence, which can be obtained from a self-taught course and online testing.

Drones greater than 25 kg, which includes most spray drones, require an advanced licence, which can be significantly more difficult to obtain. The farmer will be assessed in person, and they will be assigned a mission to fly with their drone.

Wolf explains that drone operators also need to be aware of airspace regulations.

“Most airspace below 400 feet is uncontrolled, which means you don’t have to talk to a tower. If you go higher than 400 feet or close to airports, it’s controlled airspace,” says Wolf.

“I’m within three kilometres of an airport and have a nearby hospital with a landing pad, so I need a special flight operations certificate from Transport Canada.”

These certificates require information about your experience, drone details, and when and where you want to spray. This is necessary to protect aircraft and bystanders.

While many farmers are eager to try drone spraying, barriers remain due to a need for more research and slow action by pesticide companies to validate their products for drone use.

“There are concerns. We don’t know how they drift, how well they work, or if bystander and operator exposure is an issue, and we don’t know what it means for maximum residual in crops with lower water volumes being used in drones,” says Wolf.

Wolf explains that registrants need to generate this information for each of their products for the pesticides to become approved for use with drones.

“They have to petition to register their products for drone use. They have to say what data is needed and then the registrant has to generate that data, and it’s expensive and takes time,” says Wolf.

“They are likely asking, ‘What’s in it for us? Do we sell more product, or do we get more headaches and liability with drift or performance if products are registered for drones?’ They are pretty serious about whether they should do this or not.”

While there already are farmers illegally spraying with drones, Wolf has concerns about public perception and trade implications if too many people stretch the rules.

Weber says that Prairie producers can learn to use their drones as a tool rather than a toy at LandView Drones’ Ag Drone School. The school teaches farmers how to legally fly their drones and utilize them more effectively and safely.

While producers wait for regulations to catch up to their enthusiasm for spraying, using them for scouting, mapping, and seeding can make farming easier by increasing accessibility and flexibility for managing crops and livestock. BF