Early one morning in Vidalia, Georgia, USA, third-generation farmer Greg Morgan launched an AG-230 drone loaded with 30 liters of fungicide over a field of sweet onions. The chemicals, vital to crop survival in this humid condition, are usually hauled and dripped from Morgan’s 1,900-liter tank behind his 4.5-ton tractor. Now it was falling into a fine mist from his 36 kg drone spray his jet ten feet above him on his cash crop.
Early one morning in Vidalia, Georgia, USA, third-generation farmer Greg Morgan launched an AG-230 drone loaded with 30 liters of fungicide over a field of sweet onions. The chemicals, vital to crop survival in this humid condition, are usually hauled and dripped from Morgan’s 1,900-liter tank behind his 4.5-ton tractor. Now it was falling into a fine mist from his 36 kg drone spray his jet ten feet above him on his cash crop.
Vidalia onions are a $150 million local industry vulnerable to climate change. Morgan joins farmers pioneering the move from tractors to drones to adapt to rising chemical costs and combat rising temperatures, heavy rains, overgrowth of weeds and aggressive pests. Farmers have been using drones for more than 20 years, primarily to scan farms with cameras to map where crops are growing and failing. Drones are now being used for hands-on crop management, including precision application of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, and dispersal of seeds during planting season.
Vidalia onions are a $150 million local industry vulnerable to climate change. Morgan joins farmers pioneering the move from tractors to drones to adapt to rising chemical costs and combat rising temperatures, heavy rains, overgrowth of weeds and aggressive pests. Farmers have used drones for more than 20 years, primarily to scan farms with cameras to map where crops are growing and failing. Drones are now being used for hands-on crop management, including precision application of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, and dispersal of seeds during planting season.
subscribe and read more
Hylio CEO Arthur Erickson describes the company’s agricultural drones as “feather-class flying tractors.” The Houston-based start-up has seen a surge in demand for its drones, with about 700 in operation each year on 700,000 acres of farmland. Morgan is making big changes to the food business. Drones are poised to disrupt the tractor industry. And it’s a win for the planet.In eight months after Morgan invested $40,000 (far cheaper than the roughly $700,000 needed to replace an old ground rig), it cut fuel costs and reduced pesticide use. Reduced usage by 15%. He plowed fields after heavy rains, when the ground was often too wet to use heavy machinery, and protected crops from the daily damage caused by tractors. I have protected the soil.
Last summer, we first saw agricultural drones in action on an Iowa farm. Brian Pickering, a fifth-generation farmer, and his daughter launched his MG-1P Rantizo drone, made by DJI in China. Their drones sprayed organic pesticides at a rate of about 7.5 liters per acre, or 14 acres per hour. We also sprinkled 11.3 kg of rye seed per acre throughout the soybean field.
These aerial acrobats use less than one-tenth the energy of ground tractors and do not crush crops, rut or touch soil. Drones seem to be the future. Morgan’s onion farm provided compelling evidence. Pickering runs a large commodities farm on an R&D budget, while Morgan struggles to stay profitable on his 300 acres of land. For him, buying a drone wasn’t a groundbreaking new toy, but a survival tool to keep his expenses to a minimum. Hylio’s Erikson says the drones are “like little X-wing fighter jets. They give small farmers a tool as efficient as some of the most advanced tractor technology at a fraction of the cost. ” he said.
As agricultural drone hardware becomes more sophisticated, so does the software being developed by startups such as Canada’s Precision AI. This will allow drones to use computers to pinpoint exactly where and how much chemicals are needed for each plant instead of covering an entire field with the same treatment.
Drones won’t completely replace tractors anytime soon. The payload is limited to about 75 liters, not enough to handle the required volume until the next harvest. But it can replace the expensive and wasteful spraying of herbicides and fungicides that is still done by plane or helicopter on millions of acres of land.
Unlike pesticide spraying, where the chemicals run off the edge of the field and spread out, the drone creates a fine mist of chemicals that is delivered directly to the crop without spillage. Agile fryers can avoid obstacles such as power lines and trees, greatly increasing the efficiency of chemical application.
The benefits of agrodrone are great, but the world’s two largest tractor manufacturers, Deere & Co in the US and Mahindra & Mahindra in India, are starting with indifferent investments that represent a tiny fraction of John Deere’s $52. billion empire. The mechanized agricultural giants may be slow to realize it, but the age of flying tractors has arrived.
Morgan says he’s keeping a low profile on the drone for now as he learns to use new tools on his Georgia farm. “I like to keep it hidden,” he said. Farmers are widely considered skeptical and conservative.
“But I’m very happy with it,” Morgan said.
Amanda Little is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist on agriculture and climate..
