I often thought that a drone flying low over sweet cherries would help chase the birds away.
Jim Bittner Singer Farms 6620 Lake Rd Appleton, NY 14008 716 778 7330 -----Original Message----- From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Dave Rosenberger Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 2:59 PM To: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net Subject: [apple-crop] agricultural drones This list-serve has been rather inactive, so here's a futuristic issue to pique your imagination: Over the weekend, I happened to read an interesting article in NY Times concerning the fact that the US Federal Aviation Authority has recently begun regulatory changes that will allow commercial use of drone aircraft in non-military applications. The article is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/technology/drones-with-an-eye-on-the-publi c-cleared-to-fly.html?emc=eta1, but you may need a subscription to view it. The gist of the article is that drone manufacturers are looking for new business options as US military orders are or will be (hopefully?) slowing with the troop draw-down in Afghanistan. The article mentions "crop dusting" as one potential civilian use for drones. That mention triggered a number of questions. Is anyone aware of companies that are actively testing drones for pesticide applications? Given the tremendous losses that occur when weather conditions prevent conventional sprayers from getting through apple orchards in eastern United States, helicopter drones might prove both useful and cost-effective for rapid-response pesticide applications. With modern GPS capabilities, drones could presumably be programmed to accurately fly over tree rows, adjust for wind-associated drift problems, and return to a predetermined parking area for refilling a spray tank. Even if lift capabilities meant that the drone could only spray one acre per tank, application speed might still allow it to cover acreage much faster than conventional sprayers. Spending a million dollars for a drone might sound far-fetched, but various accounts suggest that PA apple farmers lost far more than a million dollars last year when 50 days of rain during the primary scab period created difficulties in maintaining fungicide coverage. One drone operator in that area might have been able to save a lot of acres from scab. Other interesting questions: 1. How much weight could a million-dollar drone carry? 2. Can they operate in adverse conditions (i.e., during rain, with shifting wind currents a low altitudes)? 2. Are helicopter drones quieter than conventional helicopters, or at least no nosier than conventional airblast sprayers? If not, then noise becomes an issue for many fruit farms located near residential areas. (For many orchards in the east, fixed-wing drones would be undesirable because home-owners adjacent to orchards don't appreciate being buzzed by low-flying aircraft, and they would go absolutely nuts if they learned that pilotless drones were carrying pesticides over their properties!) 3. What kind of additional regulations might be imposed/required for a pesticide-laden drone vis-a-vis safety of neighboring properties, etc? 4. Should agrichemical companies be looking for new chemistries and/or formulations that might work better for aerial applications than most of the current products that must be absorbed or adsorbed into the cuticle to be rainfast. The older fungicides that were often applied via aircraft in northeastern United States (back before air applications were mostly discontinued) were contact fungicides that could be readily redistributed by rainfall. Thus perfect coverage of the all foliage was not essential because final coverage was enhanced by the same rains that brought on scab infection periods. I'm not certain how well any of the fungicide products developed since 1985 would actually work when applied via aircraft when trees already have enough open leaves to limit coverage that occurs via aerial application (e.g., during bloom). Coverage with fixed wing and conventional aircraft was enhanced by the turbulence generated from the wings or the rotors, but a small drone might generate less turbulence and redistribution might therefore become more important. I don't expect to see crop-duster drones in NY orchards in the near future, but they may well become practical within the next decade. Sounds like an interesting business for an agricultural techie who always wanted to fly planes but is afraid of heights. -- ************************************************************** Dave Rosenberger Professor of Plant Pathology Office: 845-691-7231 Cornell University's Hudson Valley Lab Fax: 845-691-2719 P.O. Box 727, Highland, NY 12528 Cell: 845-594-3060 http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/faculty/rosenberger/ _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2113/4821 - Release Date: 02/20/12 _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
