Drone imagery growing better food and fiber for a store near you !
Growing food and fiber with drones - the future is here!
AirBorn Insight is working with CSIRO, the Queensland Department of Agriculture and farmers and showing that drones mounted with specialised cameras can reduce inputs (i.e. irrigation and fertilizers) and increase crop yields as these cameras detect crop problems before they can be seen by humans. The GIS and data analysis also provided by AirBorn Insight allows researchers and farmers to get actionable data, helping them made better decisions for their businesses. A number of different AirBorn Insight projects show that there is huge potential of using thermal and multispectral imaging for assessing crop health and improving management of our cropping systems.
When using multispectral imaging, the strength of the spectral response can be used to calculate how healthy plants are over the paddock. At times thermal and multispectral imagery has been given a bad rap, as the weather, timing of the flight, the flight parameters, crop stage and the type of analysis conducted can all impact results. However, when flights and the analysis are done by experienced operators the information captured within the imagery is breathtaking. We have found that not only can biomass be assessed from the imagery captured, but this kind of imagery is also a powerful management tool for highlighting issues such as:
- Changes in plant leaf growth over the farm over time
- Crop response to nutrients and nutrient deficiencies
- Irrigation problems over different paddocks and irrigation systems
- Identify areas that require replanting
- Highlight where crops are suffering ‘wet feet’ and are drowning
- Crop characteristics and impact such as planting spacing and varietal impacts