Drones! Pros vs Con!

[SASKFARMER3]

Ok I think these things have a place. Replace the quad no you still need to physically get around your fields, but hell from 600 ft above or 300, one can get a whole different perspective. The sprayer all year you can spot issues.
Cost wow up to 35000 ah hire a summer student and have him rogue fields.
But inferred shows area that have issues.
I definitely need to study this more before jumping in,but definitely I think maybe these have a place in a farmers tool box.
So does anybody own one and how does it work out for you, does it have a fit or is it a glorious RC.
Digital trail cameras let you watch fields and equipment, satellite gives you positions elevation etc. all years ago we were hesitant. First GPS auto steer cost way to much.
High lift sprayer now is the norm back in 80 s not.
Maybe the Drones are the next thing.
So let's here about what others think.

[furrowtickler]

Its a neat toy, kinda like the $25,000 side by side that some guys "write" off lol
Sat shots are great (infra red) but not instant view/info like the drones would be.
Sometimes the sat data can be delayed by a week or more due to not passing overhead - weather - tech issues and that can be critical in a short growing season. A custom spray operation is great if the weather is perfect and your at the top of the list, but can cost you thousands if late. Like owning your own sprayer, drones would give you instant feed back if needed, so ya I agree there is a fit and $30,000 will be $15,000 in a year or two. Also $30,000 over 15,000 ac is only $2/ac but is $6/ac on 5000 ac, so if the shoe fits....
Once a crop hits vegetative state there is a lot going on in those fields that you can not see from the ground in a very short time period.

[SASKFARMER3]

The prevalence of farms that have unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, is small right now, but that is going to change dramatically in the near future, predicts Chad Colby.

“The value that you can get (from a UAV) is incredible,” said Colby, who gave a presentation Drones in Agriculture, the Next Phase in Precision Farming as part of Crop Production Week, which is being held in Saskatoon.

“I doubt we are five per cent adoption (of the technology) right now. When you start talking about (UAVs), really the sky is the limit. There is so much here that can benefit agriculture. As the technology develops it’s going to be more and more prevalent.”

Some of the benefits include: Being able to make timely decisions, data collection, monitoring of plant and livestock health, and cost savings due to greater precision inputs.

Colby said today’s farmers are strapped for time and talent, and a UAV will save on both.

It will also be good for the environment because farmers can be more precise with their inputs while also raising yields.

“And you can put thermal cameras on (the UAV) and check livestock,” Colby said. “There is all kinds of great technology.”

And the price producers will have to fork over to get a well-equipped drone that is designed for the farm is less than $4,000.

“You can buy a great platform for under $4,000 and do some great work in the field,” Colby said. “Growers get to see their crop like they have never seen it before and that is what we are talking about.”

Technology is advancing rapidly with better sensors and lenses and easier data collection, which means it is easier to find and quantify the value of a UAV.

Plus, it is getting cheaper and cheaper, he said.

“(This year) will be the first time you will be able to get data quick in a way that you’ve never seen before,” Colby said.

[SASKFARMER3]

Yes the cost is up their now. $23000 for the one that I think is pretty good. But a company in Europe has the same thing for about 9000 euros. So a little cheaper.

[SASKFARMER3]

Down Down down we go. Only Toms Rose colored glasses haven't fell off yet.
Hey people are starting to get worried and worried and harsh decisions are made. Yes every thing seems headed in one direction.
Time will tell but oil looks to test .39 by months end. Ouch. Can you say Albert and Sask need a new plan.
Ouch is all I have to say.
Ag the boom was done a year ago.
The long-term charts are telling Mike Mock something about agricultural prices, and it isn’t comforting, says a story from Syngenta Farm.
Mock, the senior risk manager for The Andersons Inc. in Ohio, admittedly doesn’t know how it will all turn out, but he’s seen enough to know that farmers ought to be hunkering down and taking a pass on that new house on the lake or that new condominium in the Caribbean.
A speaker at the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, ON. earlier this month, Mock held out a decades-long chart showing US farm income as perhaps the most telling indicator of the future. The chart, which most farmers are probably now familiar with, showed massive – but relatively brief – super-cycle peak highs around the end of the First World War, the Secord World War and the 1970s, when Russia bought up huge volumes of American grain.
Put quite simply, the big peaks are just not sustainable.
No Shit Sherlock!

[canolacrazy]

i found it interesting when talking with a farmland real estate saleman for one of the big saskatchewan companies recently that the people thinking of selling land have now made up their mind to put it on the market before it goes down more, and the ones thinking of buying land, have told him they are going to hold off and "think about it" for a while. deflation?

[Jagfarms]

I think the price will come down in the future. Using a airplane is more fun.

[SASKFARMER3]

Yep they said the out of country guys were sitting back and waiting and locals were the ones who bought one or two here or their. Yes grasshopper the boom is done.

[SASKFARMER3]

On the airplane yes you get a great view of what's out their and what area has issues etc.
should have got pilots licence when I was younger.
Why I didn't I don't know.

[furrowtickler]

But but but - land will never go down again ......

May not crash but a correction is forth coming - not hopeing it will but all things go up and down over time

[grassfarmer]

The "ag boom" isn't over yet SF3 - feeder cattle up again since new year. Sold some little 8 month old steers for $1840 yesterday.

[SASKFARMER3]

Ok I should clarify the Cattle look good and all the guys who got out are done and gone not coming back, so less animals and you are going to get a few nice years of prices.
Grain the boom is over and so is land prices etc.

[SASKFARMER3]

Furrow I feel land will settle not to the 35 to 55 to 85 range but 100 160 and 220 range.

[errolanderson]

take a look at copper . . . .

near 10% drop in last two days.

this is a reflection of global economic health ie: China.

we are now witnessing broad-scale commodity market re-pricing.

[SASKFARMER3]

and not in a good direction.

Ah high rents are being renewed and adjusted. Just in!