Drone Spraying Efficiencies
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Do drones have a role in a comprehensive precision agriculture program? Hylio CEO Arthur Erickson thinks so. He says drone technology is one way to implement precision ag tools and target applications only when and where they're needed.
Erickson… “ When times are tough and you need to stretch the dollar further, of course, people start to turn more and more to something that is a precise tool like we offer. The name of the game for our drone technology, or I should say our tech stack in general, is stretching your dollar and stretching your input further. The drones in many studies have shown that just spraying the same amount of product, let's say it's 10 ounces of an herbicide active ingredient per acre, doing that by drone versus a ground rig or a helicopter usually is anywhere from 30% to 50% more effective in terms of downstream yield effects. But maybe more dramatic is when you're utilizing the drone stack we have to go scout out problem areas you have throughout the field. So let's say you've got some rust popping up on your corn and if you can go out and scout it and say, "Hey, I've identified the 500 acres out of 5,000 that actually have the rust popping up." So spray just that affected area, and then end up not spraying like the other 90% of your acreage. So you're saving 90% of the inputs you otherwise would've done with a later stage prophylactic fungicide treatment or reactive fungicide treatment.”
Erickson says increased automation and AI application are crucial for drones to be the most effective.
