New DJI Agriculture Drone Insight Report Reveals Greater Acceptance

DJI Agriculture, a global leader in facilitating agricultural innovation through drone technology, today reveals the findings of the DJI Agriculture Drone Insight Report 2022/23.

“DJI Agriculture strives to enhance the efficiency of farmland management through digital agricultural solutions based on intelligent agriculture drones in an environmental and ecological way,” said Yuan Zhang, Head of Global Sales at DJI Agriculture. “This report shows that governments around the world and farmers, are adopting the use of agricultural drones and smart farming methods to increase food production in a more scientific, sustainable and eco-friendly way. This approach can reduce the amount of agricultural chemicals used while ensuring food security and environmental balance.”

The report is split into several sections examining Global Policy Trends, Agriculture Drone Tests, Innovations in Drone Application and Best Practices.

Global Policy Trends
As agricultural drone technology is increasingly being embraced by farmers around the world, governments are starting to see the many benefits that this brings to the industry. There have been proposals to revise regulation across Europe, North America and Brazil. In China, DJI’s T16, T20, T10 and T30 agricultural drones were all issued with airworthiness certification by the CAAC.

Agricultural Drone Tests
A number of in-depth tests have been conducted including droplet size tests, drifting tests and herbicide tests, across the DJI Agras agricultural drone series.

Innovations in Drone Application
Drones have been used in a number of innovative ways from pest and disease control in the Maldives to integrating them with traditional grape farming techniques or even in smart farming, optimizing potato and rice yields. One large scale potato farmer in Washington State saw an 80% reduction in insect damage by conducting spot spraying on a 60-hectare field. In Japan a local rice producer was able to save on fertilizer and increase his yield, giving him an additional 5,425 USD per hectare. Some of the more novel use cases include pollination, shaking dead flowers from fruit trees, and spraying of antifreeze and sunscreen for fruit trees.

Best Practices
There are extensive discussions around the world on establishing best practices for agricultural drones, which include crew training, drone technology improvement, pharmaceutical use specifications, standard operating procedures, and safe operation guidelines.

DJI has carried out agricultural drone training in Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, and Turkey. New technology such as the centrifugal nozzle, radar technology and new cameras have been developed to optimise agricultural production management in terms of intelligence, efficiency, effectiveness and safety.