10/3/2018 Six Ways Drones Are Revolutionizing Agriculture - MIT Technology Review

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Six Ways Drones Are Revolutionizing Agriculture

Drones aren’t new technology by any means. Now, however, thanks to robust investments and a
somewhat more relaxed regulatory environment, it appears their time has arrived—especially in
agriculture.

by Michal Mazur, PwC July 20, 2016

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nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—better known as drones—

U have been used commercially since the early 1980s. Today,
however, practical applications for drones are expanding
faster than ever in a variety of industries, thanks to robust investments
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and the relaxing of some regulations governing their use. Responding to

the rapidly evolving technology, companies are creating new business
and operating models for UAVs.

The total addressable value of drone-powered solutions in all applicable

industries is significant—more than $127 billion, according to a recent
PwC analysis. Among the most promising areas is agriculture, where
drones o er the potential for addressing several major challenges. With
the world’s population projected to reach 9 billion people by 2050,
experts expect agricultural consumption to increase by nearly 70
percent over the same time period. In addition, extreme weather events
are on the rise, creating additional obstacles to productivity.

Agricultural producers must embrace revolutionary strategies for

producing food, increasing productivity, and making sustainability a
priority. Drones are part of the solution, along with closer collaboration
between governments, technology leaders, and industry.

Six Options for Agricultural Drones

Drone technology will give the agriculture industry a high-technology
makeover, with planning and strategy based on real-time data gathering
and processing. PwC estimates the market for drone-powered solutions
in agriculture at $32.4 billion. Following are six ways aerial and ground-
based drones will be used throughout the crop cycle:

1. Soil and field analysis: Drones can be instrumental at the start of the
crop cycle. They produce precise 3-D maps for early soil analysis, useful
in planning seed planting patterns. After planting, drone-driven soil
analysis provides data for irrigation and nitrogen-level management.

2. Planting: Startups have created drone-planting systems that achieve an

uptake rate of 75 percent and decrease planting costs by 85 percent.
These systems shoot pods with seeds and plant nutrients into the soil,
providing the plant all the nutrients necessary to sustain life.

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3. Crop spraying: Distance-measuring equipment—ultrasonic echoing

and lasers such as those used in the light-detection and ranging, or
LiDAR, method—enables a drone to adjust altitude as the topography
and geography vary, and thus avoid collisions. Consequently, drones can
scan the ground and spray the correct amount of liquid, modulating
distance from the ground and spraying in real time for even coverage.
The result: increased e ciency with a reduction of in the amount of
chemicals penetrating into groundwater. In fact, experts estimate that
aerial spraying can be completed up to five times faster with drones than
with traditional machinery.

4. Crop monitoring: Vast fields and low e ciency in crop monitoring

together create farming’s largest obstacle. Monitoring challenges are
exacerbated by increasingly unpredictable weather conditions, which
drive risk and field maintenance costs. Previously, satellite imagery
o ered the most advanced form of monitoring. But there were
drawbacks. Images had to be ordered in advance, could be taken only
once a day, and were imprecise. Further, services were extremely costly
and the images’ quality typically su ered on certain days. Today, time-
series animations can show the precise development of a crop and reveal
production ine ciencies, enabling better crop management.

5. Irrigation: Drones with hyperspectral, multispectral, or thermal

sensors can identify which parts of a field are dry or need improvements.
Additionally, once the crop is growing, drones allow the calculation of
the vegetation index, which describes the relative density and health of
the crop, and show the heat signature, the amount of energy or heat the
crop emits.

6. Health assessment: It’s essential to assess crop health and spot

bacterial or fungal infections on trees. By scanning a crop using both
visible and near-infrared light, drone-carried devices can identify which
plants reflect di erent amounts of green light and NIR light. This
information can produce multispectral images that track changes in
plants and indicate their health. A speedy response can save an entire

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orchard. In addition, as soon as a sickness is discovered, farmers can

apply and monitor remedies more precisely. These two possibilities
increase a plant’s ability to overcome disease. And in the case of crop
failure, the farmer will be able to document losses more e ciently for
insurance claims.

What’s Next?
Looking further into the future, UAVs might involve fleets, or swarms,
of autonomous drones that could tackle agricultural monitoring tasks
collectively, as well as hybrid aerial-ground drone actors that could
collect data and perform a variety of other tasks.

So, what’s slowing the progress of drones in agriculture? Beyond the

barriers to widespread drone adoption in all industries—safety of drone
operations, privacy issues, and insurance-coverage questions—the
biggest agricultural concern is the type and quality of data that can be
captured. To address this, the industry will push for more sophisticated
sensors and cameras, as well as look to develop drones that require
minimal training and are highly automated.

For more on drones in agriculture and seven other industries, see PwC’s
comprehensive report.

Michal Mazur is a partner in PwC’s Drone-Powered Solutions

division, @PwCDrone, based in Poland.

© 2016 PwC. All rights reserved. “PwC” refers to the U.S. member firm or
one of its subsidiaries or a liates, and may sometimes refer to the PwC
network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see
www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This content is for general
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consultation with professional advisors.

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