11/07/07 Farmer uses the eye in the sky

Robert Blair farms 15 hundred acres in the rolling hills near Kendrick. That land above the Clearwater River is ideal for wheat, beans and alfalfa but Blair says he could only see his fields from the ground. That all changed with the crop cam, a remote controlled drone that takes detailed pictures of his fields. From above he can see where he needs to add nitrogen, where the weeds are growing, where the deer and elk are trampling his grain crops. He's the first farmer in the US to use the drone which has an eight foot wingspan, is four feet long, weighs six pounds and is hauled around in the back of his pickup. BLAIR "This is your auto pilot back in here. A three way gyro for pitch, yaw and roll. You upload the flight file that you want to fly, throw the plane in the air and away you go." Armed with GPS and a high resolution camera the drone can cover 640 acres in 30 minutes and it can do it in all types of weather. Blair says his unmanned air vehicle or UAV saved him money this past growing season by using less inputs and he figures with rising fuel and fertilizer prices in 2008 he'll continue to stay profitable. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott