Drones measure nitrogen application in potato farming

Researchers at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands announced that the ‘Toward precision agriculture 2.0’ research program has included a group of potato farmers carrying out test runs with sensor observations by drones. The drone images show exactly where they should apply more or less nitrogen on their fields, allowing farmers to use the product more efficiently. Precision agriculture researcher Johan Booij from Wageningen University & Research explains how it works: “The images captured by the drone of the potato field are converted into a map. The farmer is sent this map by e-mail and can upload it via an app on Akkerweb, which we developed with Agrifirm. This software then rolls out advice for farmers as to where they should use more or less nitrogen, and which areas don’t need extra application. While we have optimized the method for the use of the eBee-drone, developers of other drone types can make their sensor systems suitable too.” More