The Iowa State University Rural Life Poll finds many farmers haven’t embraced the use of drones as a tool. J. Arbuckle oversees the poll.
He says most farmers in the poll hire others to do the drone work.
There were also a small number who say they rent a drone, or borrowing one from a neighbor. Extension specialist Doug Houser conducts drone training classes and says the most popular use is for scouting fields.
Applying pesticides, planting cover crops and applying fertilizer were the other uses for drones. Houser says drones for those uses can cost 45-thousand dollars or more and many farmers higher professionals for those services. He says wet conditions last fall showed an advantage of using drones for spraying.
Houser says the drones offer much more flexibility in scouting fields than the old fashioned “windshield survey” gathered by driving along fields.
He says drones continue to improve.
He says there’s technology that allows drone to identify weeds in fields through images and then a farmer can target those areas, saving time and spray.
