Autonomous drone increases crop yield at Canada’s Farm Show in Regina

There’s a new product on the market for farmers to see at the annual Canada’s Farm Show in Regina this week that will make granular spreading easier.

The Green Aero Tech’s DJI Agras T-50 Drone is one of the newest technologies on the market. It can spray crops with fertilizers, seeds or pest control products, leading to higher yields for farmers.

“It helps (the farmers) save three to five per cent more on their yields because then (they’re) not going into the field with a big tractor or a big sprayer and trampling down late-season crops,” said technician and drone pilot Kirk Grant. He explained fields are “getting better coverage because of the downwash from the propellers…it can get harder-to-reach areas that you typically can’t get with a ground sprayer or an airplane.”

Grant said the drone is connected to an app. He explained the farmers use the app to map out their fields. The drone will then fly itself over the fields and distribute the amount of spray at the specific height and pressure outlined by the farmer in the app.

“Full 360-degree obstacle avoidance means that it can see power lines above it with the two radars that are on it,” Grant explained. “You can go up the side of a hill up to 15 degrees in slope… On hillsides, you typically can’t get height clearance up there. You would have to manually spray or (use) airplanes, which cost a lot. This is just a nice middle alternative, just to help the farmers recoup the cost(s).”

Grant said the drones run on lithium batteries that charge while the drone is in the air. “It’s charging at a one-to-one charge ratio. (For) example, seven minutes of flying theoretically should translate to seven minutes of charging,” he said.

This is just one product at the show which is focused on new technology created to help farmers improve their productivity in a world where demand is at an all-time high.

Canada’s Farm Show is running until Thursday.