Drones May Become the Next Generation of Agricultural Tools, Helping Farmers Herd Cattle
Drones have become one of the most frequently used terms in the past two years, because in theory they may have very broad application prospects in the future.
Logistics companies want to use drones to speed up parcel delivery, oil companies want to use drones to monitor areas that are difficult for people to reach, and forest patrols want to use drones to monitor wildfires.
The next application area for drones may be agriculture. Wilbur-Ellis, a long-established American agricultural services and supply company, is testing a drone that can help farmers herd cattle.
Aircraft have a history of helping farmers farm. Wilbur-Ellis was officially founded in 1921 as a fish oil supplier. Despite its long and legendary history, not many people know about this company. This is mainly because it has always kept a low profile, deliberately maintaining its status as a private company and thereby avoiding Wall Street's attention.
This company has always carried out its business in the field it knows best, namely providing various solutions to farmers. Every year, the company earns more than 3 billion USD in revenue from selling agricultural and industrial products such as animal feed, seeds, fertilizers and machinery, as well as providing consulting, pesticide management and other agriculture-related services.
However, the company has always wanted to capture new business opportunities through strategic investment. One of its tasks is to explore the specific role of emerging technologies that have the potential to improve agriculture.
With the help of this task, the company has not only increased its revenue, but has also maintained fairly stable profitability for nearly a century. The company is currently testing drone technology, looking for new ways to help farmers through drone technology in the future.
Earlier this year, the company received a reply from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approving its use of drones being tested in South Dakota for commercial purposes. Wilbur-Ellis does not produce drones itself; the drone it uses is the AgDrone developed by Oregon startup Honeycomb.
This drone is battery-powered and equipped with a visual camera and a spectral imaging camera. It can be used for mapping and identifying crop problems.
Wilbur-Ellis will first use the AgDrone for on-site scouting and to generate chemical prescription maps based on plant health.
In this way, it can identify specific areas that need treatment, thereby helping farmers save money and reducing the amount of chemicals sprayed onto the land. This is just one of the potential application plans for using new drone technology to help improve agricultural efficiency.
That said, the application of drones in agriculture has only just begun. Moreover, the cost of the drone itself is as high as 15,000 USD, and the annual cost for data processing is about 6,000 USD per drone. These expenses are all costs brought by HoneyComb, so the actual cost to farmers may be higher, because if Wilbur-Ellis eventually launches drone technology services, it may play the role of a distributor in it.
However, if the drone test results show that farmers can use drone technology to identify crop areas that need treatment and reduce the area of land treatment, helping farmers save money while increasing crop yields, then it will become a very useful agricultural technology.
Wilbur-Ellis hopes to find the latest technology that can help farmers increase returns, so that the company can continue to maintain stable profitability. Therefore, Wilbur-Ellis is willing to be the first to test this new technology before drones have been widely promoted.