The ever-evolving technology offers new solutions in this industry every week, which not only optimises but maximises profit production. To quickly get to the point, a single spraying job can generate hundreds of thousands of HUF in revenue, but there are a few important factors to consider. If you want to become a drone pilot, you need to be aware of the regulations and the dangers of each operation. In this post, we will help you to get your bearings on this subject and highlight the main pitfalls.
First of all, it is important to stress that this technology is not child's play! To implement drone crop protection treatments, it is essential to have the right expertise - including basic crop protection knowledge and up-to-date knowledge of current legislation. You also need to have the necessary legal permits (in Hungary, including an operating licence), liability insurance and official registration of the pilot and the drone. If you want to apply a pesticide and all these are present, you only need to make sure that the chosen product is included in the list of products for which drone spraying is allowed (this will be indicated in the licence document). Once you have checked the conditions and everything is in order, you can start spraying after one notification (and if there is one, other conditions indicated in the pesticide licence document, e.g. specific flight altitude, speed, droplet size).
The potential of drones for agricultural applications is far beyond anything we had previously imagined. It is important to highlight the possibility of spot treatment, which, after a preliminary assessment with multispectral cameras (because plants absorb and reflect light differently depending on their health, and this reflectance is measured), can provide a stress map that can be used to determine whether it is really necessary to treat the whole field or whether it is sufficient to intervene only in the affected spots. This is of enormous practical importance when comparing the treatment costs of the two options.
In practice, it is the pilot's responsibility to determine whether the terrain or the weather conditions allow for an efficient and safe operation in a given situation. Inadequate care can easily result in an accident, a loss of operational efficiency or a drift. Inadequate skill and care can cause more harm than good.