Ryan Kunde is a winemaker whose family’s picture-perfect vineyard nestles in the Sonoma Valley north of San Francisco. But Kunde is not your average farmer. He’s also a drone operator—and he’s not alone. He’s part of the vanguard of farmers who are using what was once military aviation technology to grow better grapes using pictures from the air, part of a broader trend of using sensors and robotics to bring big data to precision agriculture.
Easy-to-use agricultural drones equipped with cameras, for less than $1,000.
Why It Matters
Close monitoring of crops could improve water use and pest management.
Top: A drone is equipped with multiple sensors to image fields.
Bottom: This image depicts vegetation in near-infrared light to show chlorophyll levels.
What “drones” means to Kunde and the growing number of farmers like him is simply a low-cost aerial camera…
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