UAVs and Precision Agriculture #10

Crop Scouting

It has been a while since I have had time to sit down and write a blog entry but as we close Memorial Day with bad weather some time has presented itself to write some thoughts on the use of UAS as crop scouting tools.

The truth is that interest in the application caught me of guard. I have been focused on mapping for the past few years and did not really see much benefit in small scale mapping using rotary wing systems. Well was I wrong.  The first I was asked if the rotary wing systems I use would be useful as a crop scout was about twelve months ago and I had to think twice about it.

Image of a test plot captured from rotary wing UAV/Drone

One you do give it some though it is a totally natural fit. The rotary wing is a instant gratification solution, Real time video down link and gps tagged imagery make using rotary wing systems very effective at getting the “big picture” while at the same time being able to drop down to a few feet above the canopy you can get some very detailed imagery of problem areas. All in all this additional data give the crop scout more information to make better recommendations and prescriptions.

Octane UAV/Drone over a field in Iowa