More Growers Going High-Tech Down On The Farm

Growers boot up drone technology on the farm

Within two years, unmanned aerial systems working over farm fields will be a common sight, Steve Maxwell of Highland Precision Ag predicts.
Photo courtesy of Highland Precision Ag

When asked what technology they would most like to deploy on their farm, many younger growers reply they’d want something that would connect and automate operations. You know, the ability to turn on irrigation systems from a cell phone on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. In addition, growers are hoping to learn how to harness the massive amounts of data being collected on farms today.

Technologies like that exist and are improving every day. That is good news when farmers are confronted with the prospect of feeding a global population of 9 billion by 2050. Even better news is young growers will be eager adopters of technologies that will drive production and efficiency higher.

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Flying High

It won’t be long before unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and even robots become routine parts of daily farming operations. As the Federal Aviation Administration works out the regulations on UAS operations, companies already are establishing ways to offer high-flying services in agriculture.

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Highland Precision Ag in Sebring, FL, is one such company that offers precision agriculture services, including UAS flights. Steve Maxwell, CEO of the company, says imagery collected by these machines will have profound impacts on agriculture.

“UAS is simply a vehicle to collect data on crops and soils,” Maxwell says. “As cameras become more precise and big data becomes more accessible, the imagery will fundamentally change the agriculture industry both environmentally and even in the marketing of crops.

Maxwell says growers have been receptive to the idea of using UAS on their farms and are cautiously optimistic about what the technology will offer.

“Within 24 to 36 months, you will see many farms using some sort of remote-sensing products,” he says. “One of our most intense industries is strawberries, and they will require a weekly flight.”

At the University of Central Florida, Yunjun Xu, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering, is working to develop a UAS system that will team up with a ground robot for more robust inspections of plants in fields.

Xu is applying the research to strawberries. A quad-rotor UAS flies over the crop collecting less expensive lower-resolution imagery. When it spots a potential problem area, it signals the ground robot to move to the area for a much closer and longer inspection.

The ground robot can carry a much heavier payload, thus it can carry a heavier battery for longer operation and a bigger camera for higher-resolution images. While the UAS can operate for about 30 minutes, the ground robot can cover about 10 miles on one battery life. The robot can be operated autonomously or by remote control.

Talking Machines

Agricultural telemetry is an emerging frontier that is advancing rapidly. The technology allows devices and equipment on the farm to communicate, which provides for the automation of some farm operations.

McCrometer CONNECT station at Bethel Farms in Arcadia, FL

Bethel Farms uses McCrometer CONNECT technology to wirelessly transmit data from across the farm.
Photo by Frank Giles

Soil moisture monitors can be placed throughout farms, which can wirelessly transmit data back to the main computer operating system. When soil moisture levels fall to a certain level, telemetry systems can automatically turn on irrigation systems until proper soil moisture levels are met.

Jonathan Brown has been deploying the technology on Bethel Farms in Arcadia, FL. The farm grows turf and citrus. Brown has been using the McCrometer CONNECT telemetry system. It tracks multiple data points with meters/probes for soil moisture, salinity, conductivity, daylight, disease protection, soil and ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and cold protection.

“We have these meters placed in different zones across the farm,” Brown says. “All this data goes via radio cell to a server in our office.”

Brown utilizes Farmworks software to manage and make use of the mountain of data generated daily. The telemetry and other improvements allow him to become more efficient with irrigation applications, reducing groundwater withdrawals by 35%. Because of its capability to help save money, Brown was able to obtain cost-share dollars from the state and USDA to help pay for part of the initial costs of the system.

The system’s disease prediction capability saved Brown more than $30,000 on fungicide applications on a 158-acre turf field. It gave advance warning of an outbreak of rhizoctonia brown patch.

Tommy Todd, general manager of the Basinger grove for Lykes Bros. says its amazing to watch the company's converted pine tree planter turned citrus tree planter work. Photo by Frank Giles

Tommy Todd, general manager of the Basinger grove for Lykes Bros., says its amazing to watch the company’s converted pine tree planter turned citrus tree planter work.
Photo by Frank Giles

Taking It To The Next Level

Some Florida citrus growers are replanting trees because of the deadly citrus greening disease.

Planting new blocks of citrus trees is expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming because it has traditionally been done by hand.

Bill Barber, Vice President and General Manager of Lykes Bros. Citrus, says he and his team began searching for ways to speed up the process and reduce costs.
They settled on a pine tree planter — a technology that has been around for ages, but coupled with Trimble RTK GPS autosteer system pulled behind a CAT Challenger, it became a powerful tool that turned the way citrus is planted upside down.

The Trimble system beeps when it is time to drop a tree in the ground as the tractor moves through the new grove at 1 mph. GPS technology follows a grid on the land and allows for sub-inch accuracy when planting.

The set-up can plant about 3,000 trees per day at a cost of 50 cents to 70 cents per tree. Conventional planting practices had cost Lykes about $2 per tree.

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