11/22/07 Idaho farmer says its not a fancy toy

Robert Blair farms 15 hundred acres in the rolling hills near Kendrick raising wheat, beans and alfalfa but Blair says he could only see his fields from the ground. That all changed with this, 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. 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 crop cam 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. He so impressed with it he has started a business and it selling the drones. Right now he says most comments he gets are that it's a fancy toy; he sees it as a valuable source of crop information. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott