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UAV usage for ag takes a step forward

Trimble Navigation was one of four companies receiving an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week, allowing limited commercial operation of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).

Trimble says the exemption moves the company one step closer to being able to provide high-speed aerial imaging to agriculture.

At the recent Nebraska Power Farming Show in Lincoln, Brent Johnson with Labre Crop Consulting of Manson, Iowa told Brownfield he’s been testing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and he’s anxious to offer the service to his customers.

“I’ve been using the opportunity to fly this over my own farm, to get our company in a position to learn as much as we can about how it flies, why we need to fly it in certain times of day and certain crop stages,” Johnson says, “and figure out how we can actually produce a deliverable to our customers that’s going to have some traction when they actually get that from us, rather than us trying to learn how to do that when the FAA has full clearance for us to do so.”

Johnson was exhibiting the eBee UAV, which is made by Swiss sensor manufacturer senseFly.

There are now 11 companies that have been approved for commercial UAS operations, most of them focused on the oil and gas, mining and construction industries. The FAA is still working on a master plan to integrate UAS into the national airspace system.

AUDIO: Brent Johnson