USA - Drones tested in cherry harvest

Washington State University researchers are now experimenting with how to use unmanned helicopters in agriculture — namely in blow drying rain-soaked cherry trees.Each year, cherry growers in Central Washington spend at least a few days scrambling to protect their ripening cherries from the rain, which can damage the skin of the fruit and leave it unmarketable. Orchardists use empty sprayers and wind machines, but sometimes they hire helicopter pilots to hover low over their trees to let the downdraft do the work.

Washington State University researchers are now experimenting with how to use unmanned helicopters in agriculture — namely in blow drying rain-soaked cherry trees.Each year, cherry growers in Central Washington spend at least a few days scrambling to protect their ripening cherries from the rain, which can damage the skin of the fruit and leave it unmarketable. Orchardists use empty sprayers and wind machines, but sometimes they hire helicopter pilots to hover low over their trees to let the downdraft do the work.

In the past four years, Central Washington’s cherry orchards have seen four helicopter crashes, three of them fatal, according to the Capital Press.

WSU demonstrated the experimental chopper, a Yamaha RMAX about the size of a go-kart, to 15 fruit growers at the university Irrigated Agricultural Research and Extension Center last month in Prosser.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com