“I think that it's probably a time saver and increases the efficiency of your scouting time,” Harrison says. “You can go out and take a look at a field much more quickly and in much more detail [with a drone] than you can on foot or by just driving by the field.” Drone Data Ag drones are capable of producing a lot of data, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or NDVI maps, which can be used to assess variability in crop vigour. But managing vegetative remote sensing data such as this can be a daunting prospect, which is why many growers who want to go beyond simple crop scouting and have their fields mapped for precision ag purposes, such as variable rate input applications, often choose to go the service provider route. "I think the biggest thing that might scare growers off is the data processing and the technology itself,” says Harrison. They're not familiar with it necessarily and it might kind of spook them a little bit. They would likely tend to maybe hire somebody like me to do it for them, and then they don't have to worry about that part.” Chris Neeser, a weed scientist with the pest surveillance section of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, has utilized UAVs in some of his research work. He believes those utilizing drones for precision ag need to develop the necessary expertise to be able use the software and interpret the data correctly. "The technology itself is always changing and developing rapidly,” Neeser says. “There’s still a learning curve associated with using UAVs.” While he believes drones can perform a very useful role, Neeser stresses the current technology is not yet up to par with what a human scout can do — namely diagnosing a problem after it’s been spotted. "I would say UAVs are useful for field scouting but they're not a replacement for boots in the field. You still have to go in there and verify what the images show, because the images do not necessarily provide you with the details you need to make a diagnostic of what's going on,” he says. Weber agrees the analytical capabilities of drones may be limited, but it likely won’t be that much longer due to rapid advances in artificial intelligence and the accelerating pace of sensor development. “The flight technology has gone way ahead of the ability to produce good data from it. Right now, there are many kinds of maps you can generate with it but none of those really tell you what the problem is in a particular part of the field — they just tell you where there might be a problem,” Weber says. “I see in the next two to three years that drone sensor and software technology will change drastically through the use of better spectral data and machine learning. True diagnostic maps will make the biggest change in the industry." Mark Halsall A winter wheat field mapped with a standard UAV camera (left) and a NDVI map of the same field (right). Photo courtesy Landview Drones Proven® Seed is a registered trademark of Crop Production Services (Canada) Inc. CPS CROP PRODUCTION SERVICES and Design is a registered trademark of Crop Production Services, Inc. | 12/17-58389-1 YIELD, EXCELLENCE, ANYWHERE. LEADING MIDGE TOLERANT CWRS WITH LODGING RESISTANCE. THIS IS THE ONE provenseed.ca 58389_1 CPS_Proven_Titanium_7-125x3-25.indd 1 2017-12-19 9:00 AM NDVI map of canola demonstration plots at the Lacombe Research and Development Centre. Photo courtesy Landview Drones 16 www.seed.ab.ca | Advancing Seed in Alberta