In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles — or drones — equipped with agricultural application software have become sought after big-ticket items for farmers.
The agriculture sector as a whole has been eager to adopt the new technology because of its potential to increase productivity. It also doesn’t hurt that flying remote-controlled devices is pretty cool.
“We figured it would be the next thing for field scouting,” said Curtis Ebach, a Co-op Grow Team member in Meadow Lake, Sask., who added a Precision Drone to his arsenal of crop scouting tools in 2015.
An endless list of drones are available to hobbyists, but the software needed to provide useful agricultural information carries a serious price tag. The Meadow Lake Co-op Grow Team’s investment allows growers to harness the powerful new technology for use on their farm.
Site-specific information
From the side of a field, Co-op Grow Team agronomists in Meadow Lake can map out a flight route and collect information, providing a detailed look at what's happening on the ground.
After several years of wet weather in northwest Saskatchewan, the device has been used to help Meadow Lake-area growers assess water-logged fields.
“When we do have wrecks in the field, we can determine the affected acres with the photos that we take,” said Ebach. “We can tell our farmer customers the exact number of acres that are flooded or affected by flooding and they can use that for crop insurance.”
In good years, the technology will help growers make effective crop input applications. The NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) maps produced by the drone’s software enable growers to see exactly what regions of a field are performing best.
Investigations into plant stand density counts are also being undertaken by some drone users.
“Crop density is what we’re after. If you have a really heavy, dense and thick crop, then you know that it’s good to go for fungicide,” said Ebach.
“It will help them see problems in their field before the combine hits the field, so that way there are no false expectations going in. They’ll know what their crop looks like ahead of time.”
If you are interested in learning more about Meadow Lake Co-op Grow Team, contact Curtis Ebach at 306-236-3644.
More about Meadow Lake Co-op
The Meadow Lake Co-op Agro Centre employs 40 people, including 13 Co-op Grow Team members who complete more than 3,000 field visits per season. The Co-op also operates a 5,300-tonne capacity fertilizer plant with a high-speed blender that can mix 43 tonnes of fertilizer in under 13 minutes. Every year during harvest, the Meadow Lake Grow Team delivers more than 200 meals in the field to its growers.