Crop surveillance and monitoring have been made easy with the introduction of video technology and the use of drones. Initially, the only way a farmer could inspect the health and vitality of their fields was by walking through the fields by foot or use the costly method of airplanes filming that flew over the extensive fields.
With the coming of crop surveying drones, farmers can now have their crops inspected using high precision imaging systems at lower costs compared to the past. Here are some of the benefits of using drones for agriculture.
Drones use the normalized difference vegetative index and infrared sensors for monitoring fine details of crop health. This was initially a cumbersome task that used to be done by college interns using pens and notebooks.
Drones can now cover large acres of land within minutes and capture information that would otherwise not have been captured by the human eye. This has helped to eliminate the aspect of human error in-field inspections and improved the accuracy of collected data
They have offered the best versatile alternative to the inspection of farm fields. Challenges like crop measurement, security survey, and sampling are best handled by the high precision cameras that are connected to a central unit that is used for analysis
Difference: Traditional and New Methods
For many years, farmers were unable to know how pronounced the effect of weed was on their farm during the harvesting period. This was devastating and killed the morale of the affected farmers. Today, post-flight images from the drones can be used to map out weed areas.
This can then be used by agronomists to identify areas of high weed intensity and help with the control measures. This goes a long way in boosting quality crop production.
The drone generated variable rate application maps can be used to determine the uptake of nutrients in a given field of crops. This information is then used by the farmer to determine fertilizer distribution during the planting season. This not only saves the cost of purchasing fertilizer but also gives a uniform nutrient intake for all the crops across the field.
Aviation has been used to monitor crops for a long time but at a hefty cost of up to a thousand dollars an hour or even more. Drones are much cheaper and cost-effective; this is because they offer high-resolution images compared to satellite imagery and can be used for a variety of activities at a lesser cost. This allows farmers to save on costs and invest more in farm machinery and equipment.
There are various uses of drones in the agricultural sector, scouting drones are used by farmers to know if the crops are well irrigated, infected with diseases, or infested with pests. This information is used by the farmer to determine the right control measures that can be put in place. Drones can also use to spray extensive farms with herbicides and pesticides more easily.
Drones are the best option on how to monitor crops; they save on time, are easy to use, and come with higher investment returns. its adoption, especially in extensive fields, can drive the agricultural sector to the next level.
