Fertilization using drones

Agriculture is facing major challenges, such as world population growth, urbanization, climate change and changes in food patterns. This transformation is mainly due to the aging of the population. This calls for more advanced agriculture, specialized in production methods, technologies and tools resulting from scientific progress and development activities.

Precision agriculture has already established as a paradigm for optimizing working conditions and increasing productivity, yield and quality in agriculture. It originated as a set of practices used by farmers to manage crop fertilization using drone technology for reducing the overuse of foliar products, thus saving money and reducing environmental damage.

Drones are capable of collecting data on the ground, helping users get a clear and accurate picture of the soil information. They are fitted with RGB and multispectral cameras, enabling crop health assessment.

The implementation of drones is expanding in the industrial, logistics and transportation domains. However, its implementation in agriculture is especially relevant for the benefits offered, such as:

Time optimization thanks to its ability to explore hard-to-reach areas.

Increased crop yields.

Integration of GIS mapping, allowing farmers to outline the field boundaries and get an accurate flight pattern.

Visualization of crop status.

Benefits of using drones in fertilization

Drones are operated remotely, making it easier for farmers not to be exposed to constant contact with chemicals and unfavorable conditions, thus ensuring safety.

Depending on its capacity, the drone can spray on 50 to 100 hectares per day, so 30 times more than a traditional knapsack sprayer.

The high spraying capacity saves up to 30% of fertilizers and pesticides.

The drone uses a technology with the perfect spray volume, which saves up to 90% water compared to traditional methods.

The cost of spraying is 97% lower compared to conventional spraying methods. Prompt treatment is allowed as results are achieved in 3-4 weeks.

Agricultural drones have a robust design with low maintenance cost, while simplifying the replacement or adaptation of parts.

They allow the application of fertilization and/or treatments when crop development is so advanced that it is not possible to access the crop with wheeled equipment.

Improvements in efficiency and effectiveness are not only limited to crop maintenance tasks, but extend to increased productivity of the land. Fertilization, early pest detection, moisture level of all field areas or automatic spraying are the main benefits and advantages of using drones in agriculture over traditional methods. Actually, the use of drones in agriculture will become necessary to compete in an increasingly globalized and competitive economy.

Drone technology has a great potential for development and a great future ahead, and Herogra Especiales has already jumped on the bandwagon.