Friday, 21 August 2015 15:00

More hot than clear air?

Written by 

A world expert in precision agriculture says there is much misplaced hype about the use of UAV’s (drones). 

Professor Ian Yule, Massey University, says while many people are talking enthusiastically about using drones on farms, these have limitations and are not suitable or cost-effective, especially on larger farms.

A drone must stay within its operator’s line of sight and this is impossible on sheep and beef farms unless only a small area is being covered, he says.

While Massey uses small drones, its main focus is on the use of a hyperspectral sensor in an aircraft; this can do more things better and is more robust than a drone. 

The larger sensor makes possible much more consistent results.

“The problem with UAV instruments at the moment is they are pretty simple and we know from experiments that if the lighting conditions change then so do your results. If you want to measure pasture or a crop in two weeks time and the light conditions change then the UAV can give you a significantly different result; that is an issue [compared to] the hyperspectral sensor. 

“When you want to cover, say, a sheep and beef farm, you can’t do this with a drone; it’s much slower and it needs people on the ground to operate it.” 

Yule says the drone is probably not as cost-effective as having a larger instrument in an aircraft. But the drone may have a place in horticulture where the areas to be surveyed are smaller.

One advantage of the larger system is that a large amount of data can be collected on just one pass of the farm. 

These look at nutrients, the amount of dry matter and the ME in the pasture. 

“We can determine the amount of dead matter, whether an area of a pasture is under water stress; the sensor can tell us a whole lot of things. If you have, say, weeds in a crop or pasture we can understand because they have different spectra and we can pick that out and know it’s not ryegrass.” 

Yule says with this technology one’s imagination is the limitation; it’s hard to get your head around the amount of information that can be collected.

More like this

The power of the puggo stick

A Massey University lecturer has devised a simple No. 8 wire device to help shed some light on how to improve the persistence of plantain in dairy farm pastures.

Science supports NZ's reputation

Farmers, scientists, rural professionals and policy makers from around the country last week converged on Massey University in Palmerston North for the 36th annual workshop of the Farmed Landscape Research Centre.

Beware - FE is here!

A disease that costs the primary industry more than $200 million a year is potentially coming to a place near you soon.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Knowing bugs means fewer drugs

A mastitis management company claims to deliver the fastest and most accurate mastitis testing available at scale for New Zealand…

Machinery & Products

AGTEK and ARGO part ways

After 12 years of representing the Landini and McCormick brands in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty-based AGTEK and the brands’…

100 years of Farmall Tractors

Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of…

JD unveils its latest beast

John Deere has unveiled its most powerful tractor ever, with the launch of the all new 9RX Series Tractor line-up…

Biggest Quadtrac coming to NZ!

In the biggest announcement that Case IH Australia/New Zealand has made around its tractor range, its biggest tractor is about…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Why?

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…

Fat to cut

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter