Drone and Management Decisions Continued

Drone and Management Decisions Continued

Today we continue a two-part conversation with Robert Blair — Vice President of Agriculture with Measure — a drone service company. With ag producers prices lower than a year ago, farmers must examine their operation and look for improvements to increase efficiencies. Blair says that Unmanned Vehicles — UAVs or drone— can provide vast amounts of data but producers need to be aware of the importance of understanding and evaluating the data provided.
Blair: “Right now growers are producing up to 80 percent of potential. And some of that 20 percent of that area is due to weather — that is a big portion of it. But part of that missed opportunity with yields is due to poor management —not catching a drill that is not working right but it could be a whole varieties of things. But UAVs can capture 5 to 20 percent within that range of missed opportunity. Some of those things might be seed manavmgenge. Are we placing it right? Are we getting the good stand that we should? So we are looking at our rows, our plant population. Or variable rate management. Winter kill — should I increase my seed rate when conditions happen in the fall? The data allows the grower to make better management decisions.”
If you are wondering what the cost might be to contract with a company for their UAV services, you can go to measure.aero and use their drone-value calculator to determine costs.
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