Cost Efficiency of Drones

Cost Efficiency of Drones

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Until recently, professionally flown drones flying over agricultural land in the United States were not allowed by the FAA. That has recently changed. Advanced Aviation Solutions is, at least for now, a small company in Idaho that has received the FAA’s blessing for its drone services. That means they can operate professionally in an effort to help farmers scan and analyze their crops. Owner, Steve Edgar, has very aggressively produced a startup call Advanced Aviation Solutions which has become the first company to win federal approval to use drones in farm settings. He claims his idea benefits farmers. “It allows us to increase our productivity which is going to increase our yield, cut our operating costs. Cut operating costs because we can now, with this spot application, maybe not use as much fertilizer, not use as much pesticide or change our watering cycles to be more efficient. If the watering cycles are more efficient, there is not as much runoff and waste and there is not as much electrical power used in the generation of the water, in the pumps obviously. All of this combines to a higher yield, lower operating costs and increased productivity to the marketplace which is feeding people is getting more and more difficult given that there are 9 billion people in the world, or something. There is one other motive for this and that is that the FAA is more inclined to approve using this technology in less densely populated areas and areas that have less dense air traffic.
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