Precision Pays

Idaho Farmer Uses Aerial Images and GPS

It may look like a toy, but as Ag Weekly has reported, Robert Blair’s CropCam unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, provides visuals of his farm that are vital for his precision farming. Robert says his CropCam is basically the same product the military and NASA are using. Here’s an excerpt from Ag Weekly on how Robert uses the CropCam:

Blair flies CropCam, a remote-controlled drone aircraft that takes detailed photos of his fields. CropCam is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that carries a high-resolution digital camera.

The drone meticulously maps every foot of the wheat field with high-resolution digital photos that pinpoint trouble spots where Blair can add more water or fertilizer to increase yields and bring in more dollars.

In the article, Robert says most farmers think you have to be rich to use such advanced technology. But, Robert advises that smaller farmers need to strongly consider investing in the technology if they want to remain competitive.

You can view the entire article here.

Mapping Prairie Grass

Here’s another use for aerial imagery - helping ranchers decide how many cows they can support per acre, as well as how much carbon rangeland plants store.

A study by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of North Dakota lays a foundation for eventually allowing ranchers to get Web-based information on the quality and quantity of forage plants in their fields. Ranchers could use this information to determine stocking rates, as well as how much carbon is stored in their forage plants.

Scientists Rebecca Phillips and Ofer Beeri have developed a way to measure rangeland forage plant yields in pounds per acre, and their quality in percent of protein content, over many acres. They’re using commercial HyMap hyperspectral imagery taken by airplane, which lets them capture images at more than 200 wavelengths—all of the light in the visible wavelength bands and invisible near-infrared and short-wave infrared wavelength bands.