Kyle VanOverbeke logs a flight pattern on a laptop computer and prepares to launch the latest weapon in agricultural production – a fixed-wing drone.

Although it doesn’t look any more menacing than a toy remote-controlled airplane, the nearly five-pound, Kevlar-coated unmanned aerial vehicle that VanOverbeke pilots for a new agronomy services business in Renville County is getting a foothold in the ag arsenal in west central Minnesota.

It’s the “ooh and the aah” of the business, said Jeff Boersma, one of five partners and consultants at 212 Seed & Ag Inc., which has offices in Bird Island, Olivia and Sacred Heart.

The multi-faceted company began operating 212 Sky Solutions this year in a pilot project involving 28 customers who had drones fly over their fields to monitor crop growth.

The drones were demonstrated in Bird Island this week when the business hosted the Agri-Business Committee of the Willmar Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce during the committee’s annual ag education tour.

The drones, which are equipped with two cameras, are used to help map out fields and serve as another set of eyes to scout for plant growth, weed identification and disease patterns — information that can be overlaid with other precision agricultural data, like past fertilizer application records and harvest yields.

During this growing season, the company’s drones covered 10,000 acres of farmland each week, Boersma said.

“It’s been an exciting year with some ups and downs with problems with the plane,” he said. “Things aren’t perfect yet.”

The fixed-wing drone is powered with a battery that has a 50-minute life. By contrast, the quadcopter drones, which resemble small hovering helicopters, typically have a battery run-time of 15 to 20 minutes, Boersma said.

To launch the drone, VanOverbeke hoisted it over his shoulder, took a few running steps into the wind and gave it a toss.

It’s kind of like throwing a paper airplane, Boersma said.

During the demonstration, the quiet-running drone made numerous loops over a nearby soybean field, where it eventually landed in a gentle belly crash.

Vanoverbeke said he’s had a few run-ins with large birds this summer that have tried to attack the drone.

He’s also had challenges finding a drone when it lands in waist-high or shoulder-high crops.

A locator sends out an audible alarm but only when the locator is in close proximity to the missing drone.

As part of the flight plan that VanOverbeke plots for the drone, he also programs a “rally point,” a specific GPS location for return of the drone in case the battery has just 16 percent power left and the pilot has not landed it yet.

Under current guidelines, the drone cannot fly above 400 feet and must be three miles away from an airport, Boersma said.

The permitting of drones and potential rules will likely be forthcoming from the Federal Aviation Administration as new commercial uses of drones are explored, he said.

But based on the company’s pilot project and the data that have been collected, Boersma predicts the commercial use of drone in agriculture will only grow.

“It’s changing quickly,” he said.

Most customers have seven or eight drone flights over fields each year.

Initial field information gleaned from a first drone flight typically includes data used to analyze soils, tillage, tile, drainage and residue, according to company documents.

Later flights capture emerged crops, weed observations and nutritional needs of the soil that can be overlaid with other precision agricultural data the farmers may use, like planting data from tractor monitors, fertilizer application, digital tile maps and yields.

That information can be used to create prescriptions for chemical applications for farm fields that could affect yields of the current crop and to suggest what can be done the following year to make the next crop better.

Many of the images taken by the drone are shot at 200 feet.

“We can pick up on any gap that’s out in the field that’s larger than one foot,” Boersma said. “We can actually see bugs on the plants if we really wanted to.”

The different imagery of the two types of on-board cameras are “stitched together” to create “one full mosaic” that can tell a story of how well the soil is producing crops.

The data are stored online and can be accessed by the customers, Boersma said.

Throughout the growing season, drone imagery can record crop maturity and after the crop is harvested, drones can document tillage practices.

The drones and analytical software can also be used to observe and calculate weather-related crop damage.

Boersma said drones could be especially helpful for crop adjusters, who could get a full look at an entire field following a hail storm, rather than just walking segments of fields. He said drones could eventually eliminate the need for an insurance adjuster because they can “see everything from the air.”

Source - http://www.prairiebizmag.com/