Eyes in the Sky: ARS scientist on the use of UAV’s for potato research

In this video, Shelley Jansky, USDA ARS research geneticist and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses how she is utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles in her research. She says there are many directions that researchers can go with UAV;s, although they need first of all learn to use them efficiently and effectively. The main use for her right now is with a visible light camera, monitoring crop development in plots during the season to see if there are differences related to several aspects such as nutrient stress, or perhaps water stress and heat stress. There are many things that she and her research colleagues would like to do, such as flying petrie dishes through the fields and sample spores for early blight and late blight. Jansky is of the opinion that the :sky is the limit” for the use of UAV’s in research, and these will in the near future simply become one of the regular tools that researchers employ. Watch the YouTube video (3 mins)