Determine yield
Drone automatically counts potato plants
Drones came into the world last week news for tracing virus disease in potatoes. English researchers have developed another application: Counting plants in a plot. This way you can assess how good the planting result has been and what the yield will do.
Counting plants has several advantages, writes Farmers Weekly. In this way bad spots can be traced – where the turnout is disappointing – but also where the potato potato has not done its job properly. Researchers at Fera Science in York are working on a drone that can accurately and quickly determine the emergence of a potato plot.
According to researcher Paul Brown, it takes a lot of time to accurately determine plant numbers. Even if you do it by hand you will not have a reliable result and it will take a very long time. Together with fellow researcher Lee Butler, the scientists developed special software that can analyze drone images and count plants.
'It is becoming increasingly easier to obtain aerial photographs that have a very high resolution. Everything stands or falls with the interpretation of these images,' emphasizes Brown. 'This is fundamental to make good use of the potential of precision agriculture.' During the emergence of a potato plot, the two researchers had a drone fly twice in circles. They took standard photos with an ordinary photo camera. Near-infrared images were also shot. In the test they were able to count more than 5.000 plants.
The two researchers hope that an accurate determination of the turnout can say something about the ultimate yield. However, the first study made more clear. For example, the planter did not work well everywhere. There were gaps in the row, due to which the planting distance was not uniform. At the beginning and end of each pass, the machine was not as accurate as in the average.
Brown hopes that with this information the grower can investigate his planting technique to improve yields. By using drones – in combination with automatic analysis software – this saves the farmer a lot of time. Spots in the plot where attendance is lagging are clearly visible in the images. During the season, you can steer at those places. To start by determining what leaves the spot behind.
Niels van der Boom
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