In 2015, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the use of drones in agriculture. Since then, the market value of drones has risen from $1.4 billion in 2019 to $4.8 billion in 2024.
With the high demand for agricultural produce, every farmer desires productivity and profitability in their agricultural venture. Rising challenges, such as unfavorable weather conditions, crop diseases, pest infestation, drought, and other threats, have made farms embrace technology like never before, leading to the need for drones.
But why drones?
Drones provide high-quality aerial images. In farming, they are highly useful for monitoring crop and livestock growth. They can also provide data that allows farmers to prepare accurately for planting and harvesting seasons. According to reports, incorporating drones into the agricultural sector can increase productivity by 5-30% and farmer yields by 10%.
Below, I outline a few key benefits of drones in the agricultural sector.
- Monitoring Plant Health
Modern drones used for agriculture have special imaging equipment, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which has been very successful in monitoring plant health. Farmers can use drones to easily detect crop infestations and problems in their early stages and take action, saving them from losing their crops to disasters.
- Saves time
Farm care and maintenance is hard work, and it involves a lot of hands-on activities. Farmers often walk around their farms to inspect crops intently for pests or diseases. Those with large farms could spend long hours on crop inspection.
Yet, there is still only so little anybody can do or see on foot. That is where drones come in. Their bird’s-eye view makes it easy to cover a large expanse of land quickly. They also provide far more accurate data on crop status than humans can.
- Monitoring Field Conditions
Drones monitor the health of the soil and crops. They provide accurate information that helps determine irregularities on the farm. The information can also be used to set up an efficient watering system. Some drones are equipped with sensors to detect nitrogen levels in the soil. These drones allow precise fertilizer application, thereby enriching the soil.
- Provide Better Data and Images
Before the invention of drones, farmers relied on satellite imagery to get information about their farms. While satellite imagery provides high-quality pictures, the images are not always readily available. Farmers often had to wait weeks to access the images. Drones do not only provide high-resolution images but also insights and information.
For farmers, drones’ superiority to satellite imagery is a double blessing. They have access to high-resolution images supported by adequate data showing crop health and soil structure and availability on demand, enabling them to make more precise and informed decisions.
- Spray Applications
In Southeast Asia, especially South Korea, drones are used to apply chemicals or sprays on crops. They are also known as drone sprayers and can be used to navigate hard-to-reach areas, especially swampy areas, steep areas, and places with high elevations.
They also save farmers from manually spraying the field with backpack sprayers, which can have long-term medical effects. Drone sprayers are cost-effective and help minimize the wastage of chemicals and sprays.
- Improve health and safety
Like every other sector, the agricultural sector experiences natural disasters like fire, hail, erosion, storms, or hurricanes. When this happens, farmers must prioritize their safety and those of their workers. So, they send out drones to assess the extent of damage done on the farms, which is much safer than sending humans.
In livestock farming, drones can be used to assess animals, especially when suspected to be sick, injured, or infected with zoonotic diseases. They can also assess the health status of animals. Some drones are equipped with thermal imagery to check the temperatures of animals, thereby alerting farmers to animals that may be sick based on their temperatures.
READ ALSO: Medicinal Plant Farming: A Sustainable Approach to Rural Farmers
There are other key benefits and uses of drones in the agricultural sector. The birth of drones has greatly altered farming and livestock production. We believe that in the near future, more advanced technologies will solve other upcoming challenges that farmers experience.
What are your thoughts? Share with us.
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