Exploring Spray Drones in Soybean

White mould is caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and it’s an annual threat to soybean when cool, wet conditions correspond with flowering. Variety selection (e.g. high tolerance) and cultural control (e.g. crop rotation and wider row width) are important management tools, but ultimately the application of a crop protection product between R1 and R2 […]

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The State of Drone Spraying in Canadian Agriculture (2024)

In Canada, the use of drones for pesticide application, otherwise known as Remote Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS), is regulated by two Federal Departments: Transport Canada establishes regulations for safe operation and Health Canada for the registration and conditions of use of pest control products. Drones are already used in Canadian agriculture for crop surveillance and […]

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RPAS Coverage and Drift in Field Corn

This work was performed with Mark Ledebuhr (Application Insight LLC.), Adrian Rivard (Drone Spray Canada) and Adam Pfeffer (Bayer Crop Science – funding partner). Amy Shi is gratefully acknowledged for her assistance with statistical analysis. Introduction In June 2017, Transport Canada cleared the general use of drones. In 2018, Health Canada clarified that the use […]

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Drone Sprayers – Are we Ready?

One of the fastest moving new agricultural technologies is spray drones. Hardly a month goes by without some sort of new capability, some new features. It’s truly an exciting space to watch. As with all things, there are good news and bad news to share. First the good news. Drone capacity is on the rise. […]

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The Challenges of Spraying by Drone

Spray application by drone is here. It’s common practice in South East Asia, with a very significant proportion of ag areas now treated that way. Estimates from South Korea, for example, suggest about 30% of their ag area being sprayed by drone. It’s in the US, too. The Yamaha RMax and Fazer helicopters, which pioneered […]

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