The TLDR

For decades, farming has centred on the same principle of growing and harvesting crops while battling weeds, insects, difficult soil, weather and other forces that counteract a plant’s growth and productivity. Precision farming is a new technique that allows farmers to eliminate weeds, bugs, understand soil composition, and other impacts to allow plants to grow faster, produce more produce, and increase their profits.

How Precision Farming Got Its Start

Precision farming began as early as the 1980’s with theories presented by Dr. Pierre Robert; Dr. Roberts focused on analyzing soil content, studying germination, and examining the ways water drained from fields in an attempt to create a better experience in farming.

Using Dr. Robert’s technique, farmers could stop using a “catch all” approach to farming and begin to understand their specific farmlands, crop, weather, and more to create specific plans to allow their crops to thrive. While many were critical and some faced difficulty and adverse effects, Dr. Robert’s foundation in studying precision farming has made way for more advanced techniques in how we farm our lands.

 has made significant and positive changes in the decades since Dr. Robert began his studies. Today, precision farming encompasses many aspects of technology, including soil studies, drones, sensors to produce greater produce yields and eliminate issues such as pests.

A Discussion on Soil Studies

Soil studies have become an essential element to ensuring crops are correct fertilized and the environment is not overwhelmed by chemicals. Before the rise of precision farming, many farmers applied a “blanket” strategy to watering and fertilization in which the same amount of chemical was applied throughout an entire field. However, this “blanket” application technique frequently resulted in overapplication of fertilizers and watering. Today, soil samples in various locations across a particular farmland are collected, sent to laboratories, analyzed, and results returned within a week. These results provide valuable insights into which areas need fertilization, water, and attention. As a result, each area of farmland receives the proper care, the environment is retained in better condition, and farmers are able to produce a higher yield.

A Discussion to Drones

In the last decade, drones have become an incredibly powerful asset to farmers. Collecting data about farm and plant conditions was once a time consuming and difficult process. Today, drones can fly in a coordinated pattern, take pictures, record videos, and even contain sensors to measure heat moisture levels, weather, or other data points. 

Commercial drones have been fitted to hold large equipment and tanks to apply pesticides and other relevant chemicals to promote plant growth while diminishing the growth of weeds, spread of insects, and other farm related issues. 

In recent years, drones have become an incredibly cost-saving technique to help save the environment and save on fertilizer cost. Before commercial, large-scale drones, farmers relied on a variety of costly chemical applications that typically called for agricultural planes or helicopters that did not allow for precise application. Modern drones allow for low altitude flying and extremely precise chemical application. These features allow farmers to limit the volume of chemical, decreasing environmental impacts and increasing plant yield.

The Difficulties of Precision Farming

While many express excitement for the benefits of precision farming, others frequently point out the difficulties that come alongside the advantages of advancements of the farming technique. One of the greatest setbacks to precision farming is the upfront cost, followed by training.

The Cost of Agricultural Drones

While many hobbyist drones can cost as little as $100, agricultural drones continue to pose a major financial setback to farmers and others in the agricultural industry. A pre-owned agricultural drone with tanks to administer insecticides costs upwards of $50,000. Many large-scale farmers will also need to invest in additional equipment, such as extra batteries, software, and other equipment to transport the equipment to the farm site. Some farmers may even purchase insurance to cover equipment.

The Cost of Training

Unboxing and learning to fly a small, hobby-size drone usually takes a few minutes with some fun practice. Commercial grade, agricultural drones are known to be more complex, requiring farmers to spend hours learning to operate their equipment with the appropriate software and training material. In addition to their model specific drone, farmers are required to take a ground school course and earn a drone certificate from the FAA. 

The Scalability of Agricultural Drones

Many farmers express concern over the scalability and effectiveness of agricultural drones. The average agricultural pilot flying an airplane can efficiently cover 100 to 300 acres per hour, while agricultural drones can only effectively spray 40 to 50 acres per hour. However, many agricultural drone supporters cite the ability of scalability to overperform airplane applications. A farmer with a collection of agricultural drones can easily outperform an airplane with only 5 or 6 drones.

A Fun Thing You Can Do

Take a look at the size of the DJI Agras T40 drone!