February 4, 2015

by Professor  William C. Bailey
School of Agriculture, Western Illinois University

Agriculture has always embraced technology, and there is a new technology, or at least a new approach to the use of a technology, that may provide significant changes to American farming. And it comes from the sky.
As a former military pilot, I have long monitored the use of airplanes in agriculture – exporting livestock by air, crop dusting, herding livestock by helicopter in Australia or simply flying over a farm to see crops and livestock from a different perspective than a truck. Following the airborne thought, I know creative people see new opportunities for technology in agriculture, in this case the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). I used the term ‘drone” once when first discussing this technology with an expert and was quickly corrected that the proper name is UAV. So, we will use UAV rather than drones for this column.
UAVs have been used in agriculture for a while, but as the military has increased their use of UVAs, they have become more powerful and more sophisticated. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently issued the first permit for the agricultural use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Among the FAA requirements are that UAV operations include a ground pilot that has a private pilot certificate, has a medical certificate and that the UAV remain in sight at all times. The significant factor is the FAA has recognized the growing interest in using UAVs in agriculture.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.