Read about EMILI’s work testing, validating, and demonsrating spray drones in a recent article by Angela Lovell.
Currently, EMILI has an ongoing project with Corteva Agriscience to assess the efficacy of spray drones, the differences in spray patterns and how they perform on actual farms, because, to date, there has been very little testing of spray drones under Canadian agricultural conditions.
“There are so many different levers you can pull to adjust the spray quality, spray height, droplet size, speed, water volume, and if the wind shifts or kicks up everything changes,” says Kevin Falk, a scientist with Corteva Agriscience.
“We want to give farmers honest, locally validated guidance on how our products perform when applied by drone, so we’re working on developing best management principles for spray drones.”
What is coming out of the research at EMILI and other collaborating research sites across Canada is the important connection between water volume, flight altitude and speed. Because drones carry limited water, operators often reduce water volume to cover more acres per tank. This comes at a cost to coverage quality and getting consistent coverage is key, especially with fungicides, to ensure efficacy and avoid pest resistance pressure.
Read the full article in Country Guide.