Using Drone Technology to Counter Weeds

By: Successful Farming Staff

q

What’s going on in the weed world right now, why are farmers having to look at these more creative weed management tactics?

a

Yeah so the weed side world & the weed control spectrum as far as growers are concerned is always evolving, probably due to the evolvement of resistance & the weeds we continue to fight & how we continue to see more and more resistance develop. We are always looking for new ways to be more effective with the tools we have, one of the things we’ve looked at in weed management is doing better with our timing, maybe out approach to how we apply & when we apply to be more effective at controlling these herbicide resistant weeds.

q

I know drones aren’t necessarily a new technology but how in your experience have you seen farmers start to utilize them in their fields?

a

They’re definitely becoming popular, part of it because of their portability. One of the first ways I’ve seen it used in the area I cover, the detection & how we’ve used them to scout & look at fields has really been on the first ways that we’ve seen a lot of growers pick this drone technology up. But I think we’ll continue to see that evolve as we move forward, trying to detect where there’s weeds & when they emerge or maybe where we have troublesome spots in fields & how we’re gonna approach management techniques…