Increasing Use of Drones in Agricultural Technologies

Increasing Use of Drones in Agricultural Technologies

Agriculture, one of the oldest activities of humanity, has always benefited from technological developments in the historical process in order to reduce the workload and to produce more efficiently. With the 21st century, when smart technologies started to become widespread, different approaches have emerged in this field. The use of drone technologies in agriculture has an important place among these new approaches. While drones, which can be easily managed from a single center with a remote, were used only for taking images in the first periods; It has recently been adapted for agriculture as well. The use of drones in agriculture is becoming more and more common, especially in large-scale agricultural enterprises, due to its advantages such as reducing labor costs and enabling the tasks to be completed in a shorter time. There are many different forms of drone use in agricultural areas.

Spraying with Drone

Spraying is one of the most important activities for those dealing with agriculture and horticulture. Spraying is done in order to protect plants or trees from diseases and to purify them from harmful organisms that may arise. Although there is a prejudice against agricultural pesticides, this situation is essential for the plants to grow in a healthy way. Until recently, agricultural spraying operations were carried out with hand-held compressors or some apparatus attached to the back of tractors. Manual spraying is not advantageous because it requires a long time and causes farmers to deal with pesticides more. In addition to the damage to the crop, spraying with the tractor also faces risks and disadvantages such as labor, fuel costs, and negative effects on human health due to contact with the pesticide. It has been seen that the use of drones has recently become widespread in order to overcome these problems and to easily spray pesticides in gardens and large agricultural lands. These drones , which are called spraying drones and consist of a spraying system with a spraying system added to the bottom according to their size, provide ease of spraying from the air.

Spraying with the help of aerial drone saves both time and cost. For farmers who cannot afford a drone, there are companies that spray with drones. It is possible to apply pesticides in a short time by getting services from these companies at affordable costs.

Soil Analysis with Drone

Soil analysis is one of the most important issues for those dealing with agriculture. Because in order to plant the right products, it is necessary to pay attention to the suitable soil or to enrich the soil according to the products desired to be planted. Soil analysis with normal methods is quite a challenging task. Taking soil samples from the field and examining them in laboratories by agricultural engineers is time consuming. Due to the need, drones have started to be used in this area as well. Soil analysis with the drone has become possible thanks to the sensors and cameras on the drone. Specially manufactured for this job, drones examine the soil from above and convey the nutritional values and current status of the soil with their cameras.

Crop Analysis with Drone

The use of drone technologies is also becoming more common in terms of analyzing crops grown in gardens. Drones are used to detect diseased trees in large orchards and wooded areas or to identify plants that do not receive enough water. Whether the plants carry diseases or whether they are thirsty or without food can be easily understood by their colors. It is possible to monitor the color distribution in different parts of the garden and instantly detect the problematic areas thanks to the drones that take images from high. In this way, the necessity of visiting and analyzing the plants in the whole garden one by one is eliminated. The benefits it has provided indicate that greater innovations will emerge in the use of drones in agriculture in the future.