In Washington, Dr. Lav Khot is working on several drone projects to help farmers with their precision ag methods. He is using drone thermal imaging and sensors to analyze how crops react with mid-elevation versus low-elevation irrigation. This is especially useful for potato and mint production where drones can get a sense of the crop’s canopy stress. Drones are also looking at how wine grapes handle various irrigation depths which helps determine the best irrigation methods for improving crop production.
Drones are also helping winter wheat farmers see where winter wheat is sprouting so they can decide whether to reseed their fields or not during early cold snaps. A lower tech use of drones, but one that can save farmers a $20,000 helicopter rental to fly over cherry trees to shake off excess water after a heavy rain, is to have drones fly over instead to preserve the cherries’ beauty since water can cause them to crack.