In the past few years, unmanned aerial vehicles and the agricultural industry have produced increasingly fruitful results. We’ve reported on this intersection of farming and the modern drone phenomenon before, as the particular use cases for UAVs in the field have only continued to grow. For Brazilian ranchers in the country’s northern farmland, it’s the use of SimActive’s photogrammetry (precise digital aerial imagery and the virtual recreation of areas) in their daily agricultural duties that is proving most beneficial.
According to Dronelife, SimActive and Brazil’s Portal Produtos Agropecuários (Portal) are working together with local farmers to provide them with as much functional data regarding their farmland as possible, so that these businesses can maximize profits and increase seasonal yields. For Portal, that means creating aerial mapping of farmland. This is then turned over to SimActive who can, through its Correlator3D software, process those maps into detailed, informative data. This process allows a farm’s crop management to be strategized more efficiently.
In simpler terms, this pair of photogrammetry and software specialists can create highly accurate maps of farms and their crops, which allows farmers to analyze those crops as they grow, and even anticipate potential growth problems. Naturally, these advantages would feasibly give those farmers the opportunity to expend resources wisely, adapt to shifting growth changes, and solve problems before they arise. In one example, a disconcerting presence of centipedes was discovered, all thanks to drones and mapping software.
“The identification of the presence and damage caused by centipedes was one example,” SimActive said. “When plant samples from the field were collected to identify the source of the growing anomaly, Portal was able to fly and generate mosaics to spot the problem within 24 hours using Correlator3D and their drones.”
The agriculture industry is simply one of many that have realized the potential for drones to increase profit and decrease cost. There’s been a wide array of particular, nice use cases in the field, from surveying farmland in the winter to have a more generous season thereafter, to monitoring livestock without having to be physically present or hiring additional employees. For Brazil, which is one of the most agriculture-dependent countries in the world, the notion that drone technology could allow local farmers to improve their yields substantially is one too realistic and affordable to dismiss.