How the use of spraying drones can contribute to agricultural aviation

This fear of the drone market harming the agricultural aviation market is common, due to many people working in this activity, after all, Brazil has the second largest fleet of agricultural aircraft in the world, with around 2300 aircraft (only behind the USA, which has more of 3500). Agricultural aviation still plays a very important role in the country's agriculture, operating in areas such as phytosanitary treatment, distribution of fertilizers and seeds. And it also helps in other areas, such as firefighting, recently seen in several locations, including the Pantanal and the Amazon. However, the main market, in fact, is the application of agricultural pesticides. And we know that the use of drones for this purpose is increasing.

The use of drones to apply agricultural pesticides is already quite old in Asian countries. Despite the great emphasis given to China's role in the development of the agricultural drone market, Yamaha (Japan) was the first large company to invest in this market, back in the 1980s. Yamaha started with the R- model. 50, which entered the testing phase in 1987 and was launched on the market in 1991. It's a long story. The R-50 “evolved” into the RMAX and today there are more than 2.600 units operating around the world.

Therefore, the question that many service providers and users of agricultural aviation have is: will drones compete with agricultural aircraft?

In principle, these two technologies appear to be complementary. After all, because they are smaller, drones can operate in smaller or difficult-to-access areas, where planes would not operate, for example. We can mention the most inclined areas such as coffee plantations, in Espírito Santo, fruit and vegetable areas, or even smaller properties with crops such as corn and soybeans, in addition to several other market niches.

Furthermore, agricultural aviation follows regulations that establish that application ranges are maintained without spraying at certain distances from locations such as permanent preservation areas (APP), water sources for water supply, among others. At least part of these areas can apparently be applied via drones.

Another aspect that is little talked about is that the pesticide industry has been working intensely on the development of formulations for applications in low spray volumes (or application rates). As aviation already uses smaller volumes, the development of these formulations can greatly benefit the sector, as one of the bottlenecks in agricultural aviation is the difficulty of handling products, and mainly physical problems in the syrup (physical incompatibility or difficulty in dilution). , we have seen that patents are being requested for several products and formulations for applications such as 10 L/ha and 20 L/ha, aiming to improve these characteristics. More modern formulations, in addition to greater environmental safety, can bring operational gains, as they make it possible to optimize working time.

There is still a long way to go for greater use of drones in the spraying market. Research entities, such as AgroEfetiva de Botucatu/SP, have developed several studies for companies in Brazil and abroad. We have several challenges ahead, not only linked to costs, pesticide formulations, but also in relation to training operators in Application Technology, safety and quality of applications. There is an information “gap”.

Therefore, the prospects for growth in the drone market are good, but this path must be traced with knowledge and technique, as only then will we have sustainability in this process.

Fernando Kassis Carvalho, researcher at AgroEfetiva