DJI’s Agras MG-1S is an eight-rotor craft spanning 1.47 m (5 ft), generates 5.1 kg (11 lb) of thrust per rotor and has 10-litres (2 gal) liquid capacity. It is priced at US$15,000 (€12,500 or €15,000 with RTK guidance).
similar equipment, in situations where terrain and/or ground conditions rule out the use of conventional or even specialist vehicles. In China, where government subsidies en- courage the use of agricultural drones, mar- ket leader DJI Innovation Technology claims that more than 10,000 trained operators are now using the Agras MG-1 series eight-rotor
spraying drones first introduced in 2015. The company continues to develop the de- sign with improved autonomous flight per- formance, such as terrain-hugging flying height control, and such is the growth of drone operator services working in agricul- ture that DJI forecasts annual sales of 45,000 units by 2020.
Drones swarm to create new forests
Widespread tree planting to ‘repair’ the earth’s eco-system is the long-term objective of UK- based BioCarbon Engineering and to achieve it, the company has developed a tree seeding system that propels a pre-germinated seed in a nutrition pellet to the ground for economi- cal large-scale reforestation. The company set- up by former NASA engineer Lauren Fletcher, has demonstrated its potential for mangrove renewal in Myanmar and rehabilitation of for- mer open coal mines in Australia. After scan- ning sites using a fixed wing drone to account for topography and existing biodiversity in creating an optimised flight pattern, drones are deployed with an air-powered seed gun to dispatch 300 seed pods that penetrate ground vegetation and surface soil, sowing 1 ha (2.5 acres) in around 18 minutes. Another forestry-related venture, this time in the United States, is already putting its spray-
ing technology into practice with the aim of slashing the cost of renewing forests after clearfell harvesting and wildfires. DroneSeed has been awarded the first Federal Aviation Authori- ty (FAA) approval for this activity to be conduct- ed not by single drones but by a swarm. “Forest- ry is a massive industry that’s a hundred years behind other industries such as agriculture, which has gone through a technical evolution from hand tools to the awesome tractors we have today,” says Grant Canary, DroneSeed CEO. “Traditional reforestation involves a worker car- rying heavy bags of tree seedlings and using a planting tool to put them in the ground, and then spraying on foot to protect the seedlings from anything that would shade them,” he points out. Drones can do this and more at lower cost and with fewer management issues, he sug- gests, an argument borne out by the contracts won from forestry companies in the US and Can-
Yamaha Motor starts selling its first multi-rotor drone in Japan this summer in recognition of the growing potential for such aircraft having previously focused on unmanned helicopters. The 10-litre (2 gal) capacity YMR-08 uses co-axial rotors said to result in spraying quality comparable to the RMax and Fazer helicopters, and anticipates it being used for pesticide
This tree planting drone is part of a complete forestation system that BioCarbon Engineer- ing has developed to deliver pre-germinated seeds in biodegradable nutrition pods.
ada since gaining the FAA’s approval. “We are paid per acre to plant tree seeds, spray to pro- tect them and then monitor their growth,” says Canary. “Our software enables a single operator to manage 15 drones to do the equivalent of 360 labour hours, so it’s a real game changer for the economics of reforestation.”
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 25 May 2018 33
PHOTO: BIOCARBON ENGENEERING
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