Ag in Motion: Are drones the future of farming?

Drones are starting to become more prevalent in North America when it comes to farming and some of the newest practices are being explored by farmers.

This year at Ag in Motion, you can see a plethora of field-spraying drones on display.

Dave Koop of Green Aero Tech specializes in spray drones – the company is based out of Manitoba.

According to him, these drones have been in use in Asia for the last decade, but recently have just been approved for use in Canada.

“Spray drones have been in Canada for a couple of years now. It’s not a brand new technology, but it is new to Canada and the reason it’s new to Canada is that they’re finally big enough to do work on broad-acre farming,” Koop said.

According to Koop, the drone isn’t here to replace a high-quality sprayer instead helps farmers save time and money.

“It’s a new tool in the toolbox for farmers to use,” Koop said. “It lets them go and spray without putting tracks on their field. It lets them go to areas where there’s lots of trees and where it’s hard to get a high-quality sprayer in or if they don’t want to spend $1 million on a new piece of equipment and they want to get some extra capacity for their spraying – this is a great solution.”

Read More:

• Sask. crops in good condition despite challenges from weather
• Sask. celebrates the old and new at Ag in Motion 2024
• Redekop wins environmental sustainability award at Ag in Motion

The drones for sale start around $36,000 and you need to acquire a special pilot’s license from Transport Canada to use one – something the company says they will help with if you buy one.

“Last year at this show was really the first time when we started selling quite a few of these drones,” he said. “We’re up into several hundred drones into the market. They’re just going to become more and more common in western Canada.”

Koop suggested since last year’s Ag in Motion, he’s noticed a lot more people asking about drones who have become a lot more educated on the topic and their value in the fields.

“Last year we were doing a lot of education with guys and introducing them to the technology because it was brand new,” he explained. “This year, what I’m noticing is guys are coming in and they’ve been doing their research.”

Koop thinks the sky is the limit for drone technology and farming in Canada.

“It’s going to be going bigger and better,” Koop said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing drones that are completely autonomous both for battery charging and filling up the drone where you essentially just have one person operating a swarm of drones from a cab of a big trailer and have a whole swarm of them working fully autonomously and spraying our fields.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said drones have been in use in Europe for the last decade. We regret the error.