Using drones in agriculture is gaining steam more and more. Today, farmers can solve many problems by using drones. Previously, they had to spend a lot of time and effort for it. Modern drones – is an effective solution for field monitoring, crop protection and quality control of all production processes.
A few years ago, agriculturists had to go around the whole field and even heel-and-toe to appreciate the state and development of plants. This led to extra expenses for fuel and took a lot of time. And the effectiveness of such work was not the highest. Today to solve the problem of monitoring of large areas help drones – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Every year they are becoming increasingly popular and are “all-seeing eye” of farmers.
“UAV fulfill the operational monitoring of crops. They are necessary for video monitoring, mapping and monitoring of agricultural activities, – says Yuri Protsenko, the head of UAV department, «AgriLab». Thanks to using drone we can determine the state of the area, the homogeneity of biomass and to assess the farm machinery work quality – and not only after the completion of technological operations, but also during their implementation. It allows you to take the necessary management decisions instantly. So some technological drawbacks are removed in the early stages.”
Application of trichogramma
Using UAV has several significant advantages. Drones can be used for application Trichogramma – biological plant protection. This, in its turn allows you to get ecologically clean products. Moreover, taking into account the economic component, drones are much cheaper than manned aircraft. But the most important – is that drones provide the most accurate and detailed information about the field.
«Through to using multirotary type of UAVs we can fix the problem with a height of only 1 m at a distance of 3 km, – shares his experience Yuriy Protsenko. The aircraft type of UAV allows making orthophotomaps with a resolution of a few centimeters per pixel, which allows seeing even the number of seed sprouting per square meter. Satellite or manned aircraft monitoring cannot give such results”.
According to the calculations of Yuriy Protsenko, during the day one dron can put Trichogramma in 500 hectares. One insecticide application on 1 hectare by using self-propelled sprayer will cost $ 7.03. This is taking into account the cost of the drug in 2016 – $ 6.26 and 1 liter of fuel – $ 0.77. So, the processing of 500 hectares will cost $ 3,516.32. Repeated application of insecticides – the price will double and amount to $ 7,032.63. And this is excluding the cost of fuel for transportation, water, amortization of equipment.
With UAVs using, farmers have to pay $ 1.95 for one Trichogramma introduction per 1 hectare. This amount is the cost of the drug – $ 1.93 and amortization UAV battery – $ 0.02. Processing of 500 hectares will cost $ 975.68.
So, even excluding the cost of transportation, water, amortization of equipment, the minimal economic effect of the Trichogrammas application instead of insecticides is US $ 5.08 per ha. And assuming the one insecticide putting and two Trichogrammas inputs, the savings would amount to $ 3.13 per ha.
In this way, only one day of Trichogrammas application with drones using can save from $ 1545.63 and more. But it is not a lot compared to the results that may be obtained from the integrated UAV-monitoring. Subject to appropriate management decisions, its effectiveness measures in the thousands of dollars.
The advantages of UAV
Today, two types of UAVs use by AgriLab. Its multirotary type for quick video monitoring and aircraft type for mapping.
When drones only began to appear on the Ukrainian fields, and it was only a few years ago, agronomists perceived them with suspicion and caution. However, over time, most farmers appreciated the advantages of mobile aviation implementation and drones possibilities.This technique, with a bird’s eye, helps to analyze those areas, that farmers simply do not have time to physically inspect, especially in the “peak” times of the year.
Yuri Protsenko says: “During the sowing, agronomists do not have time to go to the fields, that are planted, so they turn to us. For a day we can take pictures from thousands of hectares. And after that a few hours are enough to analyze the material. Agronomist can see the state of their fields and control all the processes in his fields, without leaving the office. “
Unmanned aircraft is continuously evolving and the company «AgriLab» closely follows the global trends. “In 2016 we bought one of the newest UAV – says Yuri Protsenko. As for the plans for the next year – time will tell. However, in the the plans – to get the UAV with possibility of automated data processing and loading it into a specialized portal «AgriLab», and also UAVs with internal combustion engines, that allow monitoring from 100 to 200 thousand of hectares during one month.”
Many farmers made sure that the drones are an effective tool. These arrangements make it possible to monitor crops and fertilizer, to make maps of fields and protect the crops, observed the state of plants and to fight with the pests. Unmanned aircraft are invaluable helpers, that significantly improve the efficiency and therefore – the profitability of agricultural enterprises. Today, to be successful, we should not only to keep pace with the times – we should go ahead of. Unmanned aerial vehicles allow farmers to be always ahead.
