Benefits Of Using Drone For Spraying Crops
Despite the use of smart technology in many areas of agriculture, farming is still very labor-intensive and time-consuming. However, by utilizing drone technology, many aspects of farming operations are now made much easier and more time efficient.
Using drones for spraying crops is still a new thing, but it is picking up some steam. Due to the limited availability of drones for crop spraying and local regulations, the agriculture industry has been slow to adopt this technology However with many countries like China and the USA as well as the EU relaxing drone laws, crop spraying drones will start to be utilized more and more widely.
There are a number of benefits of using drones for spraying crops, one of the most important is they are proving to be a safer way to apply chemicals than methods like using backpacks and manned aircraft.
As I stated near the beginning, many aspects of farming are still very labor intensive and spraying chemicals manually is tough work and can be harmful, and is definitely not time efficient.
Utilizing drone technology to spray crops eliminates any harmful effects that chemicals may have on humans and as they are easily deployable, it’s a much faster and more efficient use of resources.
Drones for crop spraying can be operated by one or two people, they are easy to operate and with autonomous flight modes and automated spray application, it’s much safer and requires little manual labor.
Another benefit of using drones for crop spraying is that they are being used to spray in areas that are difficult to reach by land. For example, according to this BBC article, farmers in El Salvador are treating crops like Sugar Cane for the first time thanks to drone technology.
With the aid of photogrammetry software like Pix4DFields or DroneDeploy, farmers and agronomists can upload prescription maps and make sure that the drones only spray areas that need to be treated.
This precise application of pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals will help with reducing the use of materials that are harmful to the environment and also help with reducing waste and lowering costs.
Drones are also being used to enhance sustainable agricultural practices, the data captured by drone technology will help farmers make better decisions in using resources more efficiently whilst maintaining or increasing yield.