As technology is growing day after day, it is helping almost all aspects of life to flourish well. Technology has helped us a lot to make well progress in the agricultural field or industry. Out of the many benefits agriculture has obtained from technology, the usage of agriculture drones is the most prominent one.
Today, drones are used by a large number of farmers because drones provide them with effective and accurate monitoring information. Indeed, agriculture drones help farmers and other related workers a lot to make well progress. The usage of agriculture drones comes with a large number of benefits. However, at the same time, some possible disadvantages or drawbacks of using agriculture drones have also been reported.
Here in this article, we are going to discuss the possible advantages and disadvantages of using agriculture drones. This information will help you ensure the best usage of drones in the agriculture field. So, let’s begin our discussion here;
Advantages of using agriculture drones
The following are the possible advantages of using agriculture drones:
Easy to operate
Drones are easy to use or operate for agricultural work. In order to execute the drones’ route planning function, users are only required to create or draw a route drawing selection on their mobile phones. Thus, it helps easily deploy the drone and obtain a quick and accurate monitoring scene.
Help prevent pesticides
Agricultural drones are playing a vital role in the prevention of pesticides. For example, loadable agricultural drones help you spray chemical fertilizers on crops, such as vegetables. As well as this, they also help prevent chemical factors, such as pesticides from direct contact with human skin or the respiratory tract.
Farmland mapping
Agriculture comes among the labor-intensive industries. Commercial drones may help you a lot in land surveys and mapping. It helps farmers to map farmland, survey particular land, and measure the particular land area. Survey, mapping, or measuring the land through drones helps you save a lot of time and increases your productivity level in the agricultural field.
Environment monitoring
Drones with long-range or flight time may save farmers and other agricultural workers to run back and forth between different territories. By using an agricultural drone one can easily or accurately detect the surface environment of the land and tells whether the land is dry or wet. Thus, it helps farmers and other workers to select suitable or appropriate crops and make timely adjustments.
Repel animals and insects
The use of drones can also help you repel animals and insects from the crops. Animals or insects may make your crops destroy. You need to keep them away from the fields or crops. Today, farmers fly drones to keep them away from crops. This helps increase the yield of crops and may also help improve the economic value of crops.
High-quality aerial imaging
Cameras used in drones can help you take high-quality images and videos of your crops or farmland. Drone cameras available in the markets that can shoot from 6K to 8K videos. You need to ensure the quality of the camera while buying your agricultural drones. You can visit physically the market to check the quality of drone cameras. As well as this, you can also explore online stores for drones, such as Dronelitic, to get high-quality drones for agriculture and other purposes.
Accuracy
Today, we find many drones designed with GPS to achieve global positioning. Today, drones are available in the market that help you achieve more accurate centimeter-level positioning. This is the reason that drones are helping agricultural industries to work more accurately and efficiently. This surely helps the agricultural industry to flourish well.
Disadvantages of agricultural drones
No doubt, drones help a lot in the field of agriculture. But, at the same time, some disadvantages may have also been reported of using drones. The following are the common disadvantages faced by people:
Legal restrictions
The use of drones, either commercial or private, is regularized by the National Aviation Administration, FAA. It is a legal instruction that drones weighing between 0.25 pounds and 55 pounds must be approved by FAA. For commercial users, it is necessary to pass a relevant exam to get a drone license. Commercial users may also be restricted to a certain height or speed. They may also not be allowed to fly drones over the heads of people, as per particular state law.
Flight route control
In some areas, there are no-fly zones and people are not allowed to fly drones in those particular areas. You must know about all the restricted areas. Otherwise, you may come under any legal risk.
Required training
The accurate use of drones is required appropriate training. Sometimes, you need to shoot from hard-to-access areas or positions. The same case applies even during agriculture work. So, one should be a master of operating drones before using them. Otherwise, you may be unable to take appropriate views. This may cause bad monitoring or mapping, bringing problems for you.
Privacy invasion
Flying a drone in your fields may hurt the privacy of other farmers or workers who work in the field. You need to ensure that you are using drones to not hurt the privacy of others. You should always try your best that the use of drones does not bother others. In some awful conditions, people may attack your drone.
Cost
Agricultural drones are very expensive tools to get help in monitoring and other benefits in agricultural work. The standard agricultural drone prices range between $10,000 and $20,000. Commercial drones, that are only used for surveying and mapping the land may be available between $2,000 and $3,000.
Weather conditions
Severe weather conditions may disturb flying objects, such as drones and multi-rotors. The speed of the breeze associated with heavy rain may intercept the radio signals of a drone. Dust storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes are weather conditions that disturb flying objects.
Vulnerable to wildlife
While using drones in the field, they may be attacked by wildlife. As well as this, they may also be sometimes dangerous to the environment. Sometimes, drones are collided with birds, causing disadvantages for both birds and drones. During flying ensure that your drones are out of the large wildlife habitats. You must also learn how to operate drones properly without collisions with birds or any other objects.