See the best advice for using drones in ag, whether you are using a drone for monitoring, management, surveying, and more.

The use of drones has become pervasive in many industries, agriculture including. Uses for drones in ag include monitoring crops and livestock, detecting pests and diseases, for insurance purposes, and for marketing, just to name a few. While drones have become commonplace in ag, there are pitfalls to avoid. A Growing Produce article shared tips for agricultural drone users. See them below.

Tips for Drones in Ag

The article shared the top mistakes that can occur when using drones in ag, and how to remedy them. These tips include:

  1. “Incorrect exposure settings due to inadequate assessment of weather conditions often result in over- or underexposure. Overexposure poses a greater challenge than underexposure, so when uncertain, opting for sunny conditions is generally safer than cloudy ones.
  2. Optimal weather conditions are rare, with shadows and weather fluctuations posing challenges. Windy or unstable weather conditions can lead to blurry images, while sudden battery drainage in cold temperatures (below approximately 10° Celsius) requires time for the drone to acclimate. Battery heaters and proper storage are recommended to mitigate these issues. Additionally, planning for alternative mission days can help navigate unpredictable weather patterns.
  3. Insufficient memory card capacity is a common oversight. Ensuring the availability of at least a 64 GB card for every 40-50 hectares of terrain, along with the use of fast SD cards, is essential to minimizing copy time during data transfer.
  4. Inadequate front/side overlaps during a flight can hinder the stitching of images, affecting the creation of orthomosaics. A minimum overlap of 75% is typically recommended for optimal results.
  5. Surveying after rainfall may require recalibration due to reduced visibility of vegetation on wet soil.”

Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions -or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.