Aviation and agriculture marriage gets a boost

Agriculture and aviation have known each other for decades. Consider, for example, spray aircraft. Recently reported Boerenbusiness that aircraft manufacturer Airbus focuses on precision agriculture with satellite data and area scans. But the major and new development is of course the use of drones.

With aerial photography, plots can be perfectly imaged. Aerial Service Holland carries out so-called High Resolution Remote Sensing flights from Zierikzee for sustainable management and cultivation processes in agriculture.

Nutrient shortages, damage, poorly functioning drainage, a malfunctioning fertilizer spreader or damp soils; they can be seen and assessed at a glance. With aerial photos, made in so-called RGB values ​​(red-green-blue), it is also quite easy to make good estimates of the amount of organic matter in the soil.

Substantial cost advantage
Any grower can have such an airplane or helicopter fly over to visualize his acreage. The costs of this are relatively high. To make it affordable, you have to do this together with a few farmers. Or: use a drone! By the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) remote sensing is accessible to every farmer. Simple drones of about 500 euros and a GoPro camera already offer so much more information and insight than the naked eye shows during crop rounds or spraying activities.

If you don't feel like learning to fly a drone (and don't have a son who likes it) there is always a company that can help you. Such as the Dronewerkers firm (a partnership of, among others, Loonbedrijf Thijssen, Akkeranalyse and Aurea Imaging). They work on a national scale and, for example, use an eBee drone to map the growth differences of crops per plot. These types of drones are able to capture hundreds of hectares per day with a precision of a few centimeters.

Drone with wings
New is the development of a hybrid drone that combines the flexibility of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. This drone, called Marlyn, can take off vertically and thus take off and land in hard-to-reach places. By flying horizontally, Marlyn achieves a high speed and can measure a project location up to 10 times faster. This is a bachelor project of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology.

Marc Calon, chairman of LTO Nederland, said at the beginning of June that, according to him, 'drones, big data and precision agriculture have a greater impact on agriculture than the transition from horse to tractor. Apply it, learn from it and use it', is his motto.

A few apart
Aviation and agriculture are like a couple, whose partners are completely different. However, they do have one similarity: they are both major polluters. Both sectors are responsible for a quarter of private CO2 emissions. Add to that the fact that we import and export many agricultural products by air.

This brought Rene van Druenen, expert in the food and agri-economy, on the original idea of ​​creating a new partnership between agriculture and aviation: use the CO2 compensation amount of the aviation sector to stimulate the agricultural sector to experiment with so-called "nature-inclusive agricultureThis is a highly productive agricultural system that effectively uses and safeguards the services that nature provides, and in which companies can respond more resiliently to climate change.

I would say: ready for take off!

Johan Geroms

Johan Geeroms is Risk Director at Euler Hermes, the world market leader in credit insurance and corporate debt collection. In his blogs, Geeroms often focuses on developments in the agricultural sector.

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