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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Farmers turn to drones for aerial crop monitoring

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DAYTON — Standing thigh-deep in waves of green wheat, Dillon Blair held the light, fixed-wing drone carefully in front of him and waited for pilot Rob Schoepflin to give the signal.

“OK!” Schoepflin called from where he stood at the tailgate of a pickup nearby, fingers poised over the keyboard of a laptop computer.

Blair pushed forward and released the drone just as Schoepflin’s digital instructions, via the computer, launched the craft and sent it buzzing out over fields owned by Dayton farmer Clay Hutchens.

The drone, loaded with a high-tech camera, wind sensor and other gadgets, was soon high above and nearly out of sight as it commenced its pre-programmed flight pattern over the farm on Fullerton Road.

Within half an hour, a busload of local farmers would arrive to see a demonstration of this drone flight as part of the 2016 farm tour, sponsored by the Columbia County Conservation District and WSU Extension Office.

This year’s theme was “technology,” and Robert Blair, with his son Dillon and colleague Schoepflin, were on scene to promote this new and growing form of precision agriculture.

Blair, vice-president of agriculture for Washington, D.C., company Measure, has been a drone enthusiast since 2006.

Today he represents this cutting-edge company and its venture into drones-for-hire for farmers. The firm contracts with other industries as well to perform property and vertical infrastructure inspection needs, such as for wind turbines.

Blair’s heart is in farming, though. He operates his own farm in Kendrick, Idaho. And he believes drones are the wave of the future.

“As farmers, you only have 40 chances in your lifetime to get the perfect crop on a field, maybe 50,” he told the 35 or so farmers on Wednesday’s tour.

“If you’re in a three-year rotation — winter grain, spring grain, then a legume — now the 40 chances on that field just got cut in a third.”

Blair, along with WSU Extension Agent Paul Carter and Hutchens, the Dayton grower on whose field everyone gathered Wednesday, all agreed.

“We have to do a better job of managing our fields because our chances are so slim,” Blair said, adding that U.S. farmers need to embrace technology.

“If you think about it, the first yield monitor came out in 1992 — over a quarter century ago,” he said. “And I want you to think about this, are you still using the same technology that you were using 25 years ago?”

With a drone, or UAV, farmers can capture highly accurate images of their fields, covering up to hundreds of acres in a single flight, without the cost and hassle of manned services. These images are at a greater resolution than satellite imagery provides, even when there is cloud cover.

By using image-processing software, farmers can then transform these shots into one large ‘orthomosaic’ image and apply algorithms to create map of the crop.

“This map is the key to boosting yields, cutting costs, and driving your business forwards,” according to the Measure website.

“It highlights exactly which areas of crop need closer examination — meaning less time spent scouting, and more time treating the plants that need it.”

Hutchens uses a variety of tools to create his zones and maps for variable-rate fertilizing, or applying varying amounts of fertilizer in different fields or parts of fields for better results and cost savings.

He uses a combination of soil samples, personal experience, yield maps from monitors in his tractors, some aerial or satellite image to create his management plan.

Data such as that provided by drone imagery would be invaluable in creating these zones and also monitoring the progress of such a management plan.

But most farmers don’t have the resources, the means or the expertise to conduct their own drone surveys. The drone Blair demonstrated on Wednesday costs about $40,000, including all the imaging technology.

And according to FAA regulations, a fully licensed pilot must operate the drone.

Measure has nine licensed pilots on its staff around the country. The company also has 450 FAA exemptions to fly specific drones commercially.

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