MARION, Ohio — With technology at his fingertips, Marion County farmer Austin Heil can’t wait to mix farming and computer technology by using his unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), also commonly known as a drone.
Heil says such technology can "boost crop yields and lighten a farmer’s workload."
"I tend to just plant 280 acres and I even have a computerized planter, but to use the UAV would be really beneficial. From the two I can get great pictures of what’s going on in the soil of my land. Unfortunately, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has put things on hold a little longer."
Farmers such as Heil are in a holding pattern as they wait for FAA regulations. "What those officials should realize is that I have software on board here that prevents me from flying higher than 400 feet," he said. "Another problem I face is the commodity I fly over is sold on a commercial market, and that is another gray area."
Heil is also the owner of the consulting firm Homestead Precision Farming. "I think farmers need this technology in so many ways. These drones will dramatically change the agriculture industry."
The Heil family has been farming in Ohio since 1839. He said drones will ensure the family embraces the latest 21st century technology.
"If we want to be precise in what we do, we need to have eyes in the sky that are giving us continuous pictures, continuous stories, of what is actually happening out in the field," Heil said, adding drones can provide that information by photographing acreage using a sophisticated camera and software.
"They’ll tell the farmer everything from what the sun’s doing to what happened three days after a rain. We can see if we are having any insect damage and we can see where there are some problem areas in the field."
Heil would like to demonstrate his drone’s capabilities – but can’t. The FAA has not yet finalized regulations on how these UAVs can be used. As it stands, the only people flying drones are hobbyists, with a few exceptions. According to FAA officials, special permission is granted, but only on a case-by-case basis.
"Using drones in agriculture has been ruled commercial use and the FAA right now does not permit commercial use for drones," says John Barker, Ohio State University extension educator in Knox County.
Scott Shearer, the head of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at OSU, said drones offer farmers a unique opportunity. He explained they could have helped farmers make adjustments after heavy rainfalls this past spring.
"Farmers lost a lot of their nitrogen because of the excessive amounts of precipitation," he said. "And again that showed up in those images in terms of where the crop had adequate amounts of nitrogen and where it was really starved for nitrogen, so we’ve seen a tremendous amount of things that could be corrected if the farmers had access to that information."
In Fayette County, Mark Bryant and his family farm 12,000 acres of soybeans, corn and wheat on their Washington Court House farm. A drone, he said, could provide valuable information.
"We could have one person that operates a drone; he basically could visit, instead of walking, he could cover so many more acres in a day and actually get clear resolution of what’s going on in a field that probably wouldn’t be visited," he said.
The Bryants already are processing volumes of information gathered electronically in the field and analyzed in real time. Drones, Bryant said, may be another technological tool but he’s not quite sure of the role they’ll play.
"I don’t know where they fit in. I just know that we have to look at every aspect of new technology coming on, and drones are part of new technology as far as I’m concerned."
It’s not known when UAV regulations will be released by the FAA. It could be later this fall or early in 2016. According to the agency, farmers can gain permission directly through the FAA, but the process can take more than three months if an approval is granted.
According to Bryant, the FFA is in the process of developing rules specifically for UAV technologies.
