The use of drones in agriculture, while a popular topic, is still in its infancy. While we’ve explored how you can measure the ROI of your drone-based farming program, there is still so much for farmers and growers to learn when it comes to how and where the technology can make sense.

At Commercial UAV Expo, attendees will have the opportunity to learn and engage with a diverse range of speakers who are pioneering unmanned systems in agriculture settings, both rural and urban. These sessions will allow attendees to ask questions, gain real world insights and understand what the agriculture industry will look like in the future with the help of drones.

1. How are drones in action on farms and for urban vegetation?

While drone use is slowly being adopted in the agricultural sector, they already have many viable uses around farms where vegetation management is required. UAS systems present the opportunity streamline otherwise time-consuming tasks in the field such as spraying crops, monitoring crops for growth, and testing soil quality. But what challenges with vegetation management in urban areas are being raised due to these applications? How have drones impacted the gathering of data via satellites or other non-drone airborne methods?

In the Agriculture and Forestry Innovations session, Bahram Salehi of SUNY ESF will provide a deep-dive look into how they use drones and Lidar scanning to map individual trees and canopy cover in urban and forested areas. To learn more about how drones are maximizing efficiency and accuracy on farms, don’t miss the opportunity to learn first-hand from a pilot’s perspective.

2. What is the current state of this market?

A theme that resonates through every agriculture session at Commercial UAV Expo is that there is still plenty of untapped potential for drones in the agricultural industry. But what does it mean to see this potential realized in the short and long term? And what will be the market impact of doing so? What kind of technology is out there that is not being used for agriculture but could be a key player in it? The Agriculture Roundtable will share insights and answer that question from a variety of perspectives.

This roundtable discussion will be led by Ashley Hanson of John Deere Aviation and Valerii Iakovenko of DroneUA. The two will answer questions such as how the U.S. drone market is becoming a global key player, who are the key other players, what is the market capacity, and more.

3. How will adoption of drones in agriculture affect the workforce?

As this market grows, so does its workforce. But by how much and at what rate? Agriculture Roundtable moderator Iakovenko has answers to that question that will be further explored at the event. 

“It will be the reality that the agriculture industry will have 150,000 pilots in the near future,” Iakovenko told Commercial UAV News. “There is so much opportunity for both pilots, drone manufacturers, and farmers. We are looking at this as a new blue ocean of opportunities”  

These factors and more play into workforce development issues that will be discussed at the Agriculture Roundtable, which will further include what few barriers there are to enter this workforce, ROI, and self-employment opportunities.

4. How to maximize the ROI of using drones on your farm?

Drones present many opportunities to streamline efficiencies in farming and in such a laborious industry, every effort to reduce man hours is money saved. But how profitable is it to adopt drone technology into an already established industry? And can the effort ultimately be quantified in terms of the bottom-line?

Hear firsthand from farmer Adam Gittins of HST Ag during the Agriculture and Forestry Innovations sessions as he answers these questions while also explaining what it has meant for him to utilize drones on his own farm and how it has changed his practices for the better.

5. What does the future of drones in agriculture look like?

With agriculture being a new frontier for drone technology, there are many directions for prosperous growth. It’s anticipated that this technology will have a high adoption rate over the next year, but what will that growth look like in terms of location and application? Where is this industry headed in terms of adoption and integration?  

Speakers from all agriculture sessions will share their outlooks for the future of drones in this sector, highlighting how attendees will be exposed to unexpected opportunities that could open up whole new lines of business and growth.

If you’re interested in learning more about these advances at Commercial UAV Expo 2024, use this link register or see the entire conference program conference here.