According to the International Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, World Agriculture 2050), the world’s population will reach about 10 billion by 2050. Consequently, the demand for food production will increase by 70%. Precision agriculture (PA) is a tool in the broader sense, sustainability that can mitigate the demand effect while not harming the environment. This technology helps farmers make critical decisions at the right time by analyzing a huge amount of data about the environment and the details of each crop. Thus, PA wants to drive the primary sector and thus the producer towards higher yields with quality so that the required demand can be met. The ultimate goal of precision agriculture using remote sensing technologies is to reduce potential risks and improve agricultural performance.
Remote Sensing plays a vital role in crop evaluation and soil health conditions. It indicates problems at the right time and helps in solving each problem wisely. NSAs (Non-Remote Aircraft Systems) are flexible for most remote sensing applications and direct solutions from problems faced by other RS platforms.
Not only UAVs are less expensive than most other agricultural equipment, but they are also easy to operate and provide accurate data. In addition, their applications have helped expand many areas of agriculture, including insecticide and fertilizer spraying, seeding, weed identification, fertility assessment, crop mapping and forecasting.
Precision management of plant pests can be used for crop monitoring. SEMs have a dual role as they can identify pest infested areas using remote sensing technologies and control mechanisms such as pesticide sprays applied accordingly, with the aim of prevention. Still equally important feature is the simultaneous good speed and precision in the system of spraying the fertilizer and phytopesticide formulations that it can provide.
Since 2019, IONOS has emerged strongly in the field of drone research, with the aim of being able to offer real data to growers. The well-known projects it has participated in (Exarchos, IONEL, Actphast, etc.) have provided knowledge that can be passed on to farmers to ensure smooth handling and effective application in major crops for our country such as olive, rice, potato, vine, etc. Finally, IONOS’ goal is to provide sufficient knowledge to the producer both in terms of handling of the UAVs and in terms of performance of precision applications, in order to be self-sufficient.
Writer IONOS team