Blair at Ag  Committee

Blair at Ag Committee

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Drones are not found on all that many farms today but with the final rules for drones having just been issued by the FAA… “UAV operations are here to stay and agriculture can benefit.” Idaho farmer Robert Blair recently told the house ag committee that drones can help producers in ways that you might not even think of. For example, a hailstorm comes through and you need to take the crop insurance adjuster out into the field to show him the damage. It takes a lot of time to show all the damage. But: "UAVs can collect high-resolution images ahead of boots on the ground Inspections so farmers and adjusters can go to those exact areas that are damaged.” Blair says on his farm, using the information sent by the drones on his wheat field to adjust nitrogen applications and such… "Last year I raised 105 bushels of wheat on dry land in a drought year because I variegated nitrogen I was able to have not only very good yields but I had better quality, less shrunken and broken kernels, and less dockage. With today’s low commodity prices and tighter margins, UAV’s can help reduce costs, increase productivity and turn precision agriculture into surgical agriculture.” But he says those low prices are a factor preventing farmers from investing in drones and the computer technology that goes with them. "It's hard to sell. They are not adopting it and the lending institutions don't understand the technology and benefits they provide as well. That creates further hurdles in adopting this technology. The technology can pay and we have not done as good a job as we can showing what the return on investment is at the ground level.
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