August 2023 - 25

AG TECH
Drone assignment
Aerial tool can be costly, growers must consider pros, cons
This is the second in a three-part series on the rising use of
drones in specialty ag operations and the growing number
of tasks they can do.
BY DOUG OHLEMEIER
ASSISTANT EDITOR
A
recent addition in growers' toolboxes, unmanned
aerial systems (UAS) flying over orchards and
vineyards can supply images to help orchardists and
horticulturists more precisely and efficiently identify areas
of concern.
Drones can increase efficiencies of inputs, targeting
irrigation when plants need water and spraying for insects
and weed control when most needed.
Drones help East Coast growers who, because of their
farm size, typically don't enjoy access to aerial applicator
services, which prefer to service the larger row crop fields
in the Midwest, said Kenny Strong, owner of Accurate Ag
Spraying LLC. The Smithsburg, Maryland, drone seller's
customers range from growers who plant 14 acres to those
overseeing 4,000 acres.
" Drones are a tool that basically any size grower can use, "
he said. " The drones have come a long way from the days
of being a 2-acre machine. Now, we're up to 10-and-a-half
gallons, and the next model that's going to be coming out
will be 13 gallons, so the size of the drone just continues
to increase. The efficiencies went from a couple of acres
an hour to up to 30 acres an hour. It's really spiraled out of
control in a great way. "
Drone harvesting systems can revolutionize peach and
nectarine harvesting. The tech requires growers to plant
slightly differently than usual.
" I don't think there's going to be any technology
anytime soon that will come in and just take over your
whole entire farm with AI and do it as your orchards and
vineyards exist as they do today, " said Drew Ketelsen, vice
president and farm manager of HMC Farms in Kingsburg,
California. " I always tell people there are many ways to go
about doing the same thing with technology, you have to
Peaches being harvested by Tevel's fruit-picking flying
autonomous robots in Verzuolo, Italy. Photo courtesy
Tevel Aerobotics Technologies.
adapt it to your operation and you have to adapt your
operation to the technology. "
In the back seat of his truck, Martin Hein, co-owner of
Hein Ranch Co., a Visalia, California, grower and farm
properties manager of almonds, walnuts, pistachios and
table, wine and cannery grapes, now packs a drone along
with his shotgun and shovel.
" I can stop and can be airborne, taking images within two
to three minutes, " he said.
SD cards can now record a day of flight and are capable
of identifying image GPS coordinates, and drone technology
has come a long way, Hein explained.
" Pull the drone out, set it on the ground, hit the button,
and it flies, " Hein said. " And it flies the course and comes
back to you. Then, you take out the battery, drive to the next
ranch, and repeat.
Grower investment
While drones can be less expensive than in the past,
owning and operating can represent a significant grower
investment. Growers advise weighing the economies of
scale and recouping their capital investments by passing
that cost into the first year of operation.
FRUITGROWERSNEWS.COM | 25
http://www.FRUITGROWERSNEWS.COM
August 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2023
