The Future of Drones in Agriculture – Unlimited Only By Your Imagination!

“Insight from above” with drone, mapping, GIS and near-infrared imaging capability is providing for a revolution in the field of precision agriculture, and at LI&D we provide a full range of services in that industry. Take a look at our agricultural services page for more.

And yet, we are always keeping an eye on ‘what comes next’ with the use of drone technology and much of this might involve what we could call ‘agri-bots,’ or agricultural robots.

How might they be used? There is already a lot of research going on with these ares of opportunity, and it might happen faster than you think!

• automated pesticide spraying via a fleet of autonomous drones
• seed planting, taking over from seeders and other traditional methods
• scarecrow drones, with advanced AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities to track and swarm pests, birds and ‘unfriendlies’
• laser-based weed-zapping robotic drones, operating in real time based on overhead analysis
• sheerpherding drones, operating in groups to manage large herds
• autonomous robot bees – small drone devices that will aid in pollination!
• real time spatial intelligence farming, in which drone insight plays a key role in a future world of nonstop 24 hour farming, driven by the arrival of self-driving smart tractors
• texting cows, sending signals to animal collar devices which will begin to guide them back to a milking station

Where is this innovation coming from? There are a tremendous number of new companies, startups and organizations involved in exploring the world of next-generation farming and agriculture. Take a look at this, and the role that drones play in this fast evolving future!

According to some estimates, the agricultural drone industry will be worth more than $1 billion by 2024. We at LI&D think that is a bit of an understatement and plan to be a big part of it as we provide a vast array of clients with agricultural drone services!