Precision Spot Spray

Since my last post, we’ve been making huge leaps. As we plan on our weed identification and spot spraying this growing season, we have deisigned a spray trailer, helped the drone OEM to design the spot spraying software, and gained our Maryland pesticide license.

One of the key cost savings to farmers with this new technology is they will save, conservitatively, atleast 90% on their herbicide cost. The drone software we are helping to develop, will reduce the cost to precisely locate weeds in the field. This low cost method comes from my experience flying Air Force B-1’s and accurately releasing weapons on the desired target. I’m really excited to see the technic be transfered to help the American farmer!

Weed Pressure Maps

We found out that we also won the second year to our United Soybean Board Palmer Amaranth spot spraying grant. Looking forward to this next year where we plan on bringing precision drone weed control to growers’ fields. This will greatly reduce the growers’ cost due to lower herbicide application while also being more environmentally friendly.

What an Honor

I recently found out some great news that I thought I’d share with you. I was recently notified that I won a Maryland state grant through TEDCO for the Agriculture and Rural Rebuild (ARR) Challenge. The grant’s objective is to revitalize agriculture and rural areas. My proposal centered on developing the technology and techniques to bring drone weed control to our local growers. Although this may sound simple, it actually is technically challenging, requiring the use of artificial intelligence and accurate geolocations.

The press release from Gov Hogan’s office is here.

I would like to thank Willard Agri-Service, and specifically Mike Twinning, for partnering with me through this program. There agronomic expertise will greatly enhance to product we are able to bring to the local Maryland farmer.

I am very honored and humbled to have been picked, and look forward to serving my customers with this exciting technology.

2021 is Looking Bright

Boy, has your past year gone by like mine? With all the changes in 2020, I can’t believe spring is right around the corner. Before we know it, we’ll be in the middle of summer. Along with that, now is the time to plan for the spring planting season.

We are honored to be involved in a few endeavors which will be pushing the edge of incorporating drones into the agricultural industry that will help with sustainability and bring more ROI to growers. We are teaming with the United Soybean Board to precisely geolocate the invasive Palmer Amaranth weed and then spot spray the weed. Parts of the technology are widely accepted within the agricultural industry, like scouting and broadcast spraying. However, there are other parts, like using artificial intelligence to identify the weed and spot spraying with a drone, which are at the leading edge of technology. In addition, the workflow from scouting, weed identification and geolocation and then passing weed geolocations to the spot sprayer need to be developed. The effort this year will focus on each of these workflow products individually, with a follow on effort where we’ll actively manage a field’s weed control. Any interested parties out there who would like to be involved? If so, please reach out.

As this technology is honed, it can be applied to other crops like corn, wheat, etc. Since current spray drones have a limited payload capacity compared to ground sprayers or crop dusters, spot spraying fits nicely into the drones niche while filling an agricultural gap. Adoption of this will reduce the grower’s cost while also contribute to a sustainable environment.

Our other endeavor is to help out a start up company, Hydropore, develop a hydrogen fuel cell as a drone energy source. The vast majority of today’s drones use batteries, however their energy to weight ratio is very low and only allow 20-40 minutes of flight time. This creates a gap to service a large number of acres for scouting or spraying missions. Using this technology greatly increase the drones flight time and payload capacity.

We are very excited to help our partners develop this technology while helping our American growers!

Bringing the Grower the Latest Technology

Over the winter we teamed up with Picterra, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) photogramy. Although that is a mouthful, it is very exciting technology. What it brings is AI to the local grower so they have accurate stand counts in a fraction of the traditional time along with accurate weed location.

This obviously has a direct affect on the farm’s efficiency. Local growers are able to get early season predictions of harvest yield, determine if replanting is economically feasible and determine where herbicide should be applied. This new AI technology is exciting and I’m sure we will find many more useful applications.

Exciting News!

We are very excited to announce that we’ve been picked by Howard County to provide drone photography and videos for their upcoming website! We would like to thank everyone who has help us get to where we are today in this new industry. You may have not realized it, but your help, advice and encouragement has been invaluable.

Stay tuned for more exciting news! We will soon roll out the latest advanced agricultural imaging using Artificial Intelligence. We are excited to bring this to our customers. As the date approaches, we’ll keep you updated.

Plant Count

I’ve been working with several companies to make sure during the next growing season we can give our customers accurate plant counts. I’m excited in this new technology. Just came across a site which enables customized Artificial Intelligence (AI) training for individual fields. I’m using previous surveys to train the AI and the results look promising. This will greatly help scouting growers fields enabling quicker plant counts.

Field Waterway Surveys

Need accurate field elevation surveys to help plan waterway approval and construction? Now is the time to get a survey done before your crops cover the field. These elevation contour maps are invaluable to help the planning phase. It’s easy and quick. If we have crop plant health surveys, we can couple this with the elevation map to identify wet areas. Give us a call or shoot an email if you have questions or want to discuss options.

Roof Inspection

Just a reminder that drones are a simple easy way to inspect storm damage on roofs. I can’t tell you how many friends have had shingles, soffits, ridge cap, etc come off or be damaged in a storm. A drone can easily and quickly snap some shots so you don’t have to get up on the roof or hire someone. Have a leaky roof, the drone pics can help pinpoint where the leak is coming from.

Not Too Late

It’s not too late to survey you fields. Many people are analyzing their competition fields to locate the highest yielding harvest locations. We can also locate weeds so you can avoid them during harvest.

Ever Wonder What the Difference is Between Drone and Satellite Precision Ag Imagery?

Today’s technology offers growers a tremendous amount of information to help make critical decisions. With the explosion of drone imagery questions have come up on the pros and cons between drone and satellite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery. Don’t these two platforms show the same information? The answer is yes, but there are differences depending on your specific application.

Both drone and satellite NDVI images show plant vigor. However, in the most basic terms, it comes down to imagery resolution, flexibility of getting the imagery when you need it and cloud cover effects. Below is a quick and simple list which compares the two technologies.

Drone Technology

• On Demand Surveys

• Flies Below Cloud Cover

• Optimized for Field Sizes along the Eastern Coast

• Resolution: 1 Inch per Pixel or Less, i.e. Stress is Seen Down to the Individual Plant

• Early Identification of Stress

• Quick & Saving Prescription

Satellite Technology

• Limited by Satellite Orbit (Bi-Monthly)

• Limited by Cloud Cover, i.e. cloud cover when the satellite overflies can limit field viewability

• Quickly Covers Large Areas, i.e. 1000’s of Acres

• Resolution: 9 - 15 ft per pixel

• Stress Must Expand into Larger Area to be Identified

New Analytics

The software subscription we use recently came out with a whole new structure and feel. With a few fields now under my belt, I think PrecisionHawk did a great job. I have several clients who find the new plant count a useful tool. Obviously, if we know the number of plants in a field, we can get an accurate estimation of harvest. In addition, if you have some seeds which did not germinate, we can estimate the number of non-germinating plants so you can be armed with information when you discuss options with the seed company.

This reminds me of a statue at my alma mater: “Man’s flight through life is sustained by the power of his knowledge.” We’re here to give you the knowledge for your business.

Dig a Little Deaper

Planting season is upon us and the pace is only going to pick up. In these time diminished situations, it is always hard to try something new. Let’s face it, if you try something new it becomes a time sink as you learn the new techniques and processes. However, if we have a strategic, long range view instead of beating the nearest alligator, the time investment in the new can reap a harvest of efficiencies in the future. Does it work everytime? Obviously no. It depends upon what the new is and your specific situation.

Many people wonder what the new drone technology can bring them. I will be the first to attest, getting your drone up and running, and maximizing the software packages to your situation is a time investment. But I have found it reaps benefits we have not seen before, and at a very affordable price. If you would like, I can help walk you through the process and outline a plan so you can be self sufficient, or if that does not work for you right now, I can provide you with the end results so you can make better informed decisions.

For those who want to dig a little deeper, I’ve provided a link to a DroneDeploy paper outlining agriculture drone benefits. Enjoy the reading & hope to hear from you!

Spring is Here - Let Us Help Save You Time

Spring is here and with it brings all the busyness with it. We’ve been out flying showcasing client’s private schools with this great weather. We’ve also surveyed flood damaged crops, determined winter wheat health & helped define field zones for different applications.

We’ve also posted several videos on www.overflightstock.com. Just search for Eagle Eye Imaging and you’ll find our videos.

I routinely am surprised at all the potential this new drone technology brings, saving clients time. If you have an idea, or are just wondering if we can help, please reach out. We’d love to see what we could do to help you out.

Cool & Useful Plant Counting Software - Predict Harvest Yield at the V2-V5 Stage

Our software has been updated with new features. One new app will count the number of plants in the field. This can help determine harvest yield or determine where re-planting in needed. We can provide a shape file of the replanting are you can load into your equipment.

Spring Surveys

Review past surveys to plan how you will plant your fields. If you don’t have them, start now collecting surveys. We will then help inform your future decisions to make your crop more productive.

Review Those Surveys

As we start planning for spring planting, don’t forget to review last years drone surveys. They will key you into field strengths and weaknesses. Compare these to your harvest yield to gain further insight. Go into this planting season with actionable data to maximize your time and yield.

Don’t hesitate to reach out so we can go through these together.

Plan For The Future

Don’t let the cold weather keep you from planning for spring planting. Our accurate NDVI surveys will enable the grower make informed decisions prior to planting. Let us help you keep a running history of field data throughout multiple growing seasons. Our NDVI surveys correlate well to yield, so we can predict stressed areas, resulting in lower yields, so you can manage proactively.

With all the wet weather, we can also create contour maps of your field or construction site, indicating where water will flow and pool. Again, this information will enable you to proactively plan for the future.