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Why is “density” the new buzzword in precision ag?
By Austin Bontrager
Servi-Tech Agronomic Technology Support Specialist
at 28,000 feet and use huge cameras cut into the hull of the
plane to capture the imagery. Servi-Tech’s aerial provider,
When it comes to the return-on-investment for precision
TerrAvion, is somewhere in the middle. They capture about
technologies, “where” can be as important as “what!”
a mile swath as they fly over fields.
If you have been talking with anyone from Servi-Tech
Distance is money, when it comes to collecting aerial
Expanded Premium Services (STEPS) lately, you may have
imagery. The further you have to fly between fields, the
noticed us using the word “density” a lot. What we are
more hours you have to pay for the pilot and the more
describing is a strategy to squeeze the most value out of
fuel and maintenance you have to pay for the plane. If
technologies like aerial imagery and soil moisture sensors,
you connect the dots between fields with a mile-wide
so we can deliver the
paintbrush, you quickly realize just
best insights about their
how many fields are being flown
crops at a price that can
along the way! No one is using (or
It costs a lot more money
be easily recouped. In
paying for) that imagery, though, so
to fly this field...
this article, I will explain
it is effectively going to waste. When
why the placement of our
we sign up multiple fields that are
services are so important
close to each other for aerial imagery,
for maximizing the value
it doesn’t cost much more to collect
that our customers get
than if we had signed up a single field
out of aerial imagery and
that the pilot had to go out of their
soil moisture sensors, and
way to visit.
how it paves the way for
The image at left shows how many
more exciting things to
fields are being captured by a single
come.
pass of the aircraft.
Than it does to fly
There are a few different
It’s a nice thing to save the pilot fuel
all the rest!
strategies to collecting
by consolidating our aerial imagery
aerial imagery. Some
acres, but what’s in it for the grower?
providers fly ultralight
To keep a simple and consistent price
aircraft as low as about a This image shows how many fields are being
for the grower, we aren’t going to be
captured by a single pass of the aircraft.
thousand feet and make
asking them to pay different amounts
multiple passes over a
from county to county. There are two
field in a method that is
different ways that we can pass along
not very different than
a better offering to the grower in the
how UAVs are used to map a field. On the other end of the
long term, however. We can obviously pass along a better
scale, some providers fly much larger twin-engine aircraft
value by lowering the price of the service, but another way
WINTER 2017
SERVITECH.COM