Global sales of agricultural drones have grown dramatically over the past few years, and this trend will continue in the long term, writes Ishvina Singh in an article on the portal dronedj.com.
“DJI’s intelligent agriculture solutions division, DJI Agriculture, has released a new industry report that focuses on advanced drone spraying practices.
But one detail that immediately jumps out in this document is the company's dynamics over the past couple of years. Agricultural drones have become a huge business for DJI. Since 2019, the tech giant has been adding at least two new precision farming drones to its product portfolio every year, with the latest cutting-edge models being the Agras T40 and T20P.
In 2021 alone, DJI pilots flew overflights covering a total of 66,7 million hectares of agricultural land. And most recently, the company expanded the availability of its SmartFarm mobile app for the Agras range to support English, Japanese and Thai, indicating a wider adoption of agricultural drones around the world.
Let us turn to the main reasons for the growth in sales of agricultural drones.
1. Precise spraying reduces environmental impact
When pesticides are sprayed using drones, only those areas that need to be sprayed are included in the coverage area. In contrast, small aircraft and helicopters used in agriculture can cause spray drift due to their speed and high altitude while spraying.
2. Minimum risk for the operator
Operations in mountainous terrain require pilots to be in manual control and constantly up and down to ensure efficient spraying. In flatter landscapes with large-scale treatments, many pilots struggle to get close to the ground to spray. Both of these scenarios, which increase the likelihood of a crash, are negated when using agricultural drones.
3. Reduce carbon emissions
Unlike traditional aerial platforms or land-based tractors that consume gasoline, agricultural drones are powered by lithium batteries, which are a cleaner source of energy without harmful emissions. In addition, do not forget about the noise pollution created by helicopter propellers. They can produce sound up to 110 decibels, which is dangerous for human hearing. But a drone operating away from the operator will not cause harm.
4. Water saving
Agricultural drones can save 44 liters of water per hectare. For example, if drones are used to spray 1 billion hectares of farmland, agricultural water consumption can be reduced by 44 million tons. This is equivalent to the amount of water consumed by 79,87 million inhabitants per year.
5. Increases the utilization factor of pesticides
Compared to conventional ground knapsack spraying, drones increase pesticide utilization by more than 10%. Thus, 1 billion hectares treated by drones is equivalent to reducing the waste of 1515 tons of pesticides.
6. Cost-effectiveness
The cost of buying and maintaining a traditional spray aircraft is quite high. The world's best-selling Single Squirrel AS35 helicopter with a 10-meter sprayer costs about 3,6 million euros. An agricultural drone has a much lower cost. Repair and maintenance of agricultural drones is also relatively easy. While the replacement of high-energy parts, such as blades, can be done by the operator, more complex repairs are carried out in specialized service centers.