Farmers and ranchers are accepting and embracing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones. This news release from Farm Bureau says one of the group’s members, Jeff VanderWerff, went before a Senate subcommittee to explain drones’ value and how farmers and ranchers are leading the way in exploring commercial use for this technology. America’s farmers and … Read More
Mississippi State University Utilizes Drones
Robert Moorehead, Director of Geosystems Research Institute and Northern Gulf Institutes at Mississippi State University, was at the 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show to showcase the research being done on harnessing UAV technology on farm.. Moorehead had a chance to chat with Chuck Zimmerman about their use of UAVs and drones. Geosystems Research focuses on agriculture; they utilize UAV … Read More
PrecisionHawk & Agri-Trend Provide UAV Services
PrecisionHawk and Agri-Trend announced a partnership to offer PrecisionHawk’s leading UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) data collection, Sensing and Analysis tools to farmers across the US and Canada through the Agri-Trend SkyScout™ Program. This year, the partnership will offer UAV services throughout regions of Canada using trained individuals with the objective to roll out a full commercialization service model in 2016. … Read More
FAA Posts Proposed Drone Rules
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released proposed regulations for the commercial use of small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones by industries including agriculture. Technically called “unmanned aircraft systems” (UAS), the rules apply to small aircraft under 55 pounds and would limit their use to daylight and to visual line-of-sight operations, which could be a problem for agricultural operations. … Read More
Popularity of Drone Tech Growing
The discussion of drones in the ag world is at an all time high. Universities across the country are conducting research of all kinds enabling more opportunities. However, those in the agricultural community are not the only ones interested in investing in the future of drone technology. USA Today reported that ten news media companies partnered with Virginia Tech to … Read More
FAA Grants Ag Drone Exemption
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week granted a regulatory exemption for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations for agricultural applications. The agency awarded the exemption to Advanced Aviation Solutions in Star, Idaho to use a fixed-wing eBee Ag UAS to make photographic measurements and perform crop scouting for precision agriculture. At the same tim, the agency gave an exemptions to … Read More