PLANT CITY, Fla. — A black drone with eight propellers and six cameras mounted on its belly zooms across Sam Astin's strawberry field gathering data that can help him save money on production and reduce his farm's carbon footprint.
Buzzing along at 350 feet, it takes the ground-controlled aircraft just 11 minutes and 16 seconds to pass over 22.5 acres and capture 219 images.
If a yellow patch shows up on the near-infrared photographs, that alerts the staff at Highland Precision Ag — and eventually, the grower — that there is an issue with some of the plants. The drone team can then come back with more specialized cameras and lenses to pinpoint exactly the problem the plants have encountered, whether that's spider mites, mold or something else that could kill them or hinder peak production.
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