Drones and Farming

[PearOrchard]

Does anyone utilize a drone to scout and photograph your crops? I just bought a DJI drone to check water, find weak points in my fields, and keep track of harvest progress. I've saved tons on atv fuel and get a much better prospective being able to view whole fields. I just started dabbling with mapping my land and realized there is a bit of a learning curve. I have also been using it to document the daily going-ons for my father who recently had heart surgery and can't be at the farm right now. It's amazing to me how clear and sharp the pictures are. I'm not sure if I'd recommend the DJI Phantom for a farming drone because of the restrictions, but most drones have really good cameras nowadays. Here's a quick video I threw together for my dad. The combine is a Case 2388.

The Lone Harvester - YouTube

 

[ruffdog]

That is a very nice video and I like the music. What is the crop? If it was that wet in our corn/bean fields, we would never get back out! I know our local seed retailer had a drone for a while but he is selling out because of illness.

 

[PearOrchard]

I couldn't do without my drone now that I have one. I would like to buy a few different ones for different tasks. The crop is rice and we don't have any other choice this year because of all the rain we've had. The music was royalty free on Youtube, but fit nicely with all the footage I shot. I'm working on a moisture sensor I could hang from the bottom of the drone and drag through the rice heads to see it they are dry enough to cut. I'm wheelchair-bound so the only way I trek through a field is with a tractor or UTV which would destroy a lot of crop.

 

[dragoneggs]

Pretty dang good. Definitely have some scenery and life that you captured well!

 

[newbury]

I couldn't do without my drone now that I have one. I would like to buy a few different ones for different tasks. The crop is rice and we don't have any other choice this year because of all the rain we've had. The music was royalty free on Youtube, but fit nicely with all the footage I shot. I'm working on a moisture sensor I could hang from the bottom of the drone and drag through the rice heads to see it they are dry enough to cut. I'm wheelchair-bound so the only way I trek through a field is with a tractor or UTV which would destroy a lot of crop.

Just be careful around trees. From another thread:

Spent a couple hours up a tree. Yesterday i managed to stick my drone in a tree about 46 ft above the ground. This morning we went back to recover. My extension ladder got me to a nice sturdy branch about 16 ft up. No way i could make it up to location. After a few attempts, my extendable paint pole with extended pole pool plus wife痴 handicap sock aid (has hook) resulted in a pole 30+ ft that i managed to thread thru upper branches and eventually dislodge drone. Couldnt believe how well it was caught. Glad i was able to sit on that branch rather than balance on the ladder, but all that arms over head stuff took its toll. I was toast by the time we finished.

View attachment 573553
View attachment 573554
I think this is 2nd, not final pole.

So, no mowing/bushhogging today. Tomorrow.

 

[PearOrchard]

When I first saw that pic, I thought he had harpooned himself through the neck. My drone has sensors on all sides and the bottom and won't let me get within 4ft of anything which has saved me more than a couple times.

 

[bunyip]

I use a dji mavic pro and check our fences a couple of times a week as the horses often break them, faster than walking around and the 4k resolution is brtlliant, also more compact than the phantom although it was a toss up at the time as the price was similar, only one front collision avoidance sensor thoough.

 

[CobyRupert]

Cool video.

How do you know where the "wet spots" are in rice field? Errr, that's my northern mentality, I mean the soft spots that you're going to get stuck in?

I'd be nervous as #### to drive 10 feet into that field!

 

[Alien]

I make my own Drones. All are fully autonomous but I can use a transmitter to fly them if I wish.
The drought has affected our bush quite badly and after viewing this I took the ATV for a drive and found that only one type of tree has been affected. We mainly have Spotted Gums, Ironbark, Bloodwood and Stringy bark. It appears that only the Stringy barks are dying at this point. The whole area is affected. Not much we can do but monitor I guess. Luckily our koalas mainly populate the Ironbarks so they are OK for now.
Incidentally, since I started autonomous flights I have never had an encounter with a tree or anything else. The computer flies them better than I do. (close to 200 flights now I guess.)

 

[PearOrchard]

I make my own Drones. All are fully autonomous but I can use a transmitter to fly them if I wish.
The drought has affected our bush quite badly and after viewing this I took the ATV for a drive and found that only one type of tree has been affected. We mainly have Spotted Gums, Ironbark, Bloodwood and Stringy bark. It appears that only the Stringy barks are dying at this point. The whole area is affected. Not much we can do but monitor I guess. Luckily our koalas mainly populate the Ironbarks so they are OK for now.
Incidentally, since I started autonomous flights I have never had an encounter with a tree or anything else. The computer flies them better than I do. (close to 200 flights now I guess.)

Looks pretty clear. What is your setup? I built one back in 2014, but it wasn't anything like what's available now.