How can drones be used to accurately predict crop yield?

Os drones podem ajudar nas lavouras de diversas maneiras, como monitoramento de cultivos, detecção de doenças e pragas, aplicação precisa de defensivos agrícolas e mapeamento da área para otimização do plantio.

Soil quality is the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function to sustain plant and animal productivity, it is influencing water holding capacity, microorganisms and subsequently crop yield. Drone data can help farmers to better understand the soil biome which is essential for plants to take up nutrients and water. Soil quality can be improved by changing agronomic practises. Drones provide an easy and constant way to measure soil quality.

Additionally, combining drones with machine learnig and data analitycs technologies could enhance automation of maintenance tasks as well as advance planning for soil prevetive care. It could also be expanded to receive climate information and other relevant data for farmers so they can be prepared for the changing weather conditions among other unexpected situations. The posibilites are endless for uplifting the agriculture industry around the world and particularly help those countries that need to be self sufficient in generating its own produce.

Drones generate highly detailed maps that illustrate the spatial variability of soil quality. These maps reveal distinct patterns and areas with specific soil characteristics, allowing farmers to make informed decisions regarding land management strategies. The integration of IoT further amplifies the benefits of drone-assisted soil assessment. Real-time data transmission and analytics capabilities enable farmers to receive instant insights on their soil's condition. This information can be accessed remotely, allowing for timely adjustments in farming strategies. Also, historical data can be stored and analysed to track trends and make long-term improvements.

Plant health is a function of genetics and the environmental conditions, especially biotic and abiotic stresses such as viruses, bacteria, diseases as well as deficiencies of water and nutrients or exessive heat stress. Drones can detect both the stressor itself, for example heat stress by measuring canopy temperature - or the effects on plants. It is essential to combine the drone data with other available data sources to comprehend the detailed situation on a field to understand what is causing a crop condition. Only this understanding will allow the grower to take counter measures and protect the yield.

Drones with cameras capable of capturing images across different wavelengths of light, including visible, infrared and thermal spectrums form the foundation for precise plant health analysis. The captured images can be processed and calculate key indicators of plant health such a leaf index area or biomass and so forth. Drones offer the advantage of early problem detection. This early diagnosis will allow for intervention, mitigating potential loses due to pests for example, disease and other environmental factors.

Drones enable the detection of weather components which are spatially highly variable, such as soil temperature and soil moisture. Drones are more helpfull to detemine how to vary agronomic practises within a field, rather than determining application timing. The temproral frequency of drone data is usually not sufficient enough, unless the drones are fully automated.

Drones with the weather stations equipped can record and transmit real time data on a range of parameters. Some of the data collected would include temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed/direction and solar radiation. The data gathered empowers farmers to make informed decisions about crucial farming activities. Some of the data may be used to make informed decisions like optimal planting times.

It offers a very diverse toolset granting the ability to monitor soil temperature, which greatly helps with improving emergence of the crop as well. Getting that initial growth is some of the highest stress on a young crop.

Some pests are airborne, travelling with the wind. Drones can identify pests which are still away from a growers field and issue warning signals. Other pests are soilborn and more static. Drones enable farmers to monitor how soilborn pests are developing and plant crops resistent to the pests on the affected areas of a field, overall optimizing yield.