A farmer in Dronten (Flevoland) wanted to see what a drone could do for weed control. On his 5.5-hectare plot of fallow land, weeds were only present on about 10% of the field. Spraying the entire area would be wasteful because it uses unnecessary chemicals and can harm the soil. At the same time, manually removing the weeds would take too much time and effort, making the problem very difficult to manage.
Drone Flight with the Mavic 3 Multispectral
Our product specialist flew over the field with the DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral, which took about half an hour. The drone flew at a height of 19 meters and captured very sharp images, making it easy to identify weeds based on both color and shape.
Using smart software, the images of the entire field were divided into small squares of 20 by 20 centimeters. You first select a few example cells that contain weeds. The software then automatically finds all other cells that look similar and creates a task map. You can then set exactly how much product should be applied to the selected areas.
Spraying all areas with even a little weed already saves about 80% of crop protection products. Working even more precisely can save even more, sometimes over 90%.
Second Test: Winter Onions with Shepherd’s Purse
Because of the time-consuming nature of manual weeding, we tested the drone on another field where spraying the entire field was not feasible. This was a 5.44-hectare plot of winter onions with a lot of small shepherd’s purse weeds. The plants were a maximum of 5 centimeters tall, so the drone flew at 12 meters. The flight took about 35 minutes.
The drone produced a high-resolution map (3.2 millimeters per pixel), making the weeds easy to identify. In the end, only 0.19 hectares out of 5.44 hectares needed spraying. This resulted in a 96.5% reduction in crop protection use.
Smarter, Cheaper, and Better for the Soil
Thanks to the drone and intelligent software, a farmer can work very precisely. Less spraying is required, which is better for the environment, the soil, and the wallet.
Curious to see what the Mavic 3M can do on your farm? Contact us for a live demonstration.
