https://modernfarmer.com/2023/06/next-generation-agricultural-drones/
"After 32 years as an assistant paralegal, Tracye Beer is launching a new
career—as an agricultural drone pilot.
When the 57-year-old lost her job back in February, she wanted to prioritize
spending more time on her family’s fourth generation farm near Guymon, in the
Oklahoma panhandle. As an experienced flier who’d obtained her sport pilot’s
license back in high school, seeing drones at an agricultural training seminar
“really piqued my interest,” she recalls.
Beer realized that unmanned aerial spraying systems (UASS), designed to haul
and disperse tanks of herbicide, fertilizer and seeds across vast fields, could
fill a job once reserved for large-rig ground sprayers and crop dusters. Using
her family’s 3,000-acre corn, wheat and grain fields as a training ground, “it
was the perfect opportunity to explore something new,” she says—and help wean
the farm off conventional spraying methods.
In addition to making operations more efficient, spray drones lighten the
environmental impacts of agriculture through precise aerial applications and a
drastically lighter footprint. And they’re also helping farmers boost their
bottom line while luring a fresh crop of tech- and aviation-minded peers into a
shrinking profession.
The technology also gives growers a new level of autonomy, says Beer, who’s
started a drone spraying business with her sister. “When there’s a [crop]
issue, you need to get someone in to spray, and you need it done now—along with
everyone else in the county,” she adds. “But rather than having to get in line
and wait [for a plane], you can fly your drone immediately.”
Besides, flying one is an amazing experience, she says. Despite its 12-foot
wingspan, the dragonfly-like contraption zooms, hovers and turns on a dime.
“It’s so maneuverable and graceful.”
According to the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International
(AUVSI), a nonprofit trade group, agriculture could soon account for 80 percent
of the global commercial drone market."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
