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Drones the latest technology helping area farmers

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Ken Jahnke holds two drones owned by Premier Co-op. The drones provide a service for area farmers. (Photo by Ted Pennekamp)

By Ted Pennekamp

 

Like most farmers, farmers in Crawford County continue to keep abreast of the latest technological trends. One of the most recent trends has been the use of drones, which are becoming more advanced and popular for a variety of uses each year. 

“Various Crawford County farmers have been using drones,” said Ken Jahnke of Bridgeport, an agronomy and sales manager for Premier Co-op. 

Premier Co-op has several locations, including Eastman and Fennimore, and has been providing a drone service to area farmers for the past three years. “We adapted to that technology right away,” said Jahnke, who noted that Premier Co-op has three drones. “We’re on the cutting edge.” 

Jahnke said that a drone can survey a corn or bean field much faster than walking through it in order to identify areas which may need more fertilizer or problem areas that have bugs or weeds. “A drone can cover 100 acres in about 15 minutes, when it probably took about two hours before,” he said. “It is so much quicker and easier.”

Some area farmers used drones to help survey and document their fields for hail damage from two hail storms in June. 

The drones are equipped with cameras that take videos  and still photos of the field. The videos and photos can be stored and viewed by the farmer on a computer. The videos and photos can also be emailed to a farmer who is at another location. Jahnke cited a recent example of a farmer who lives in the Janesville area and also has a farm in Muscoda. The Muscoda farm was monitored by a drone and the videos and photos were then emailed to the farmer in Janesville.

The drones used for farming purposes have a range of about a mile and fly at 400 hundred feet or lower. Jahnke said that a range of a mile and an altitude of 400 feet are the extremes, however, and a more realistic range is about a half mile and an altitude much lower than 400 feet. “You want to keep it in sight,” said Jahnke who noted that the drones have homing devices which make them relatively easy to find should they fall into a field. 

The drones are battery operated. Two of the three drones owned by Premier Co-op can be guided through the use of a radio transmitter. One can be flown by moving one’s finger around on an I-Pad. When a farmer wants the drone service, Premier Co-op will send one of their drone operators.

“Drones can be used from planting through harvesting,” said Jahnke. “They can help with the complete farm agronomy plan. They increase accuracy and awareness and increase the level of scouting tremendously. They can definitely help maximize profits per acre.”

Jahnke predicted the use of drones will continue to expand. “They might get into application,” he said, in noting that drones may someday be able to seed fields or apply pesticide or herbicide. 

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