Aerial pesticide application by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may soon be a common sight here in Manitoba.
ROGA Drone, based in Elie, is the first company in the country to be licensed with Transport Canada to do aerial application by UAV.
Owner Don Campbell says he's working with a company out of the Ukraine.
He explained why he decided to bring the technology to Manitoba.
"I originally started out looking at UAV's for NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) mapping, photography, and stuff like that. I thought maybe that market would get flooded in a hurry. I got the idea that there might be an application, maybe for spot spraying in some fields, or possibly wider coverage."
The Kray protection UAV uses ultra-low volume spraying and is capable of speeds up to 110 kilometres per hour.
Campbell notes he's been researching drones for this application for a couple of years. He plans to do lots of testing on the product this upcoming year.
ROGA Drone was one of 14 exhibitors featured in the Inventor's Showcase last week at Manitoba Ag Days.
Source : Steinbachonline