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Drones May Improve Agricultural Practices, Increase Efficiency

The use of drones has evolved from a hobby to military use and now to agriculture. Farmers are using drones to inspect their crops, detect diseases and deliver chemicals.



This technology is expected to increase crop yields and save growers time and money. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International predicts that 80 percent of drones in the commercial sector will be used for agriculture, according to USA Today.

Drones are a part of a practice known as “precision agriculture,” using big data to improve agricultural practices and efficiency. This technology is used alongside unmanned tractors and satellite technology to manage crops on a field-by-field basis. The use of drones already has increased yield confidence and reduced crop damage.

Drones are still in their infancy in terms of working with big-data agriculture. They are expected to collect more diverse and higher levels of data in the future, including tracking individual crops and inch-by-inch resolution of soil health.

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LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.