Harvest: Spring 2017

Page 30

DRONES & PRECISION FARMING:

Press Release from | PRWire.com

U

Revolutionizing the Future of Agriculture

nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are quickly moving from the battlefield to the farmer’s field to capture highly accurate images of the fields, covering up to hundreds of hectares/acres in a single flight and saving a lot of money in the process. Agricultural drones are relatively cheap with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities, which provide farmers with new ways to increase their crop yield and reduce crop damage. The increasing adoption of drones by farmers owing to its ease of use and affordability is the major reason behind its high growth. Moreover, many precision farming service providers are offering drones as a part of their services, thereby driving the growth of the market. Weather tracking and forecasting applications are currently witnessing rapid growth. There are various kinds of devices used for these applications which include handheld instruments, on-field weather stations, and so on. Weather tracking helps make decisions before severe and potentially dangerous conditions occur, thereby protecting a farmer’s family or business.

28 | SPRING 2017

The climate information service providers keep the farmers updated. Management of data is a major challenge for the growth of the precision farming market. Precision farming regularly produces a high amount of data of high importance. This data has to be stored and managed in a proper format to make farming-related decisions, such as mapping, variable rate seeding, soil testing, yield monitoring, and historical crop rotation. The data collected is raw data, processed by context, relevance and priority, and presented in a manner that could be used to make decisions. A major challenge faced by farmers is managing this data, which requires expertise and knowledge in order for it to be used in an efficient manner for their day-to-day activities. Precision farming solutions offer increased farm efficiency, better quality production, and improved farm yield. The growth of the precision farming market is majorly driven by the increasing global demand for food and rising need for crop health monitoring to increase yield. Mapping software, variable rate technology (VRT),


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.