A well-funded Regina-based robotics and artificial intelligence firm sees a future in spraying with drones, potentially cutting herbicide use by up to 95 per cent. In the meantime, it’s working on a system of conventional spraying using information gathered by a drone survey.
Dan McCann, founder and CEO of Precision AI, claims conventional spraying results in 80 per cent of chemicals being wasted on the ground, with another 10 to 15 per cent hitting the crop.
“You’ve got a critical business process used by virtually every farm in the world, unless you’re organic, that operates at a five to 10 per cent efficiency,” he says.
Read Also
Agronomists share tips for evaluating new crop products and tech: Pt. 3
With new products, new production practices and new technology converging on the agriculture industry at a frenetic pace in recent…
“The benefits extend beyond farmer’s time and money savings into reduced carbon emissions, reduced chemical runoff into our water, less residual chemicals in our food, and it opens the possibility of more trading with countries whose pesticide regulations are more stringent.”
Drone survey first
“We’re capable of doing a drone survey of an entire field, precisely geo-locating every single weed in the field, and then creating a weed map in a format your sprayer can already support,” McCann says.
He says real-time precision spraying from ground sprayers can be difficult to keep accurate.
“Close to the sprayer the cameras would be accurate, but the further away from the sprayer, the more the cameras have trouble focusing due to driving through rough fields. Drones remain at a consistent pace to map out weeds accurately.”
Flying at up to 70 km/h, the drones can map out weed locations using GPS markers, and collect sub-millimetre images, allowing for the detection and identification of weeds as small as the two-leaf stage.
McCann says that at a pixelated level, artificial intelligence algorithms can detect and distinguish between the patterns of various plant species based on their leaf shapes, sizes and angles, as well as plant heights, orientations and even shadows.
“Once these patterns are repeated and the data is trained against the patterns to a known plant species, the artificial intelligence (AI) takes over and recognizes plant species before and better than a human can.”
McCann says the company’s green-on-green AI models allow for in-crop spraying, as opposed to green-on-brown technology that relies on chlorophyll sensors to spray everything green and leave bare soil untouched.
“This limits the technology to only be useful during the initial growing season, and not later into the season when there is too much crop growth. The farmer’s herbicide costs will be at least 10 to 15 per cent higher than if it was green-on-green spraying.”
The shapefiles — data packages — generated by the survey are supported by major high-clearance sprayer manufacturers, McCann says.
Precision AI is currently entering its pre-commercial phase for its AI weed survey system, with plans for limited release in spring 2023.
“We are not quite ready to announce costing, but we can confidently say the cost of our machines will dwarf that of purchasing a new traditional sprayer. For use on upgraded high-clearance sprayers, the savings from less herbicide easily pays for itself.”
Mini aircraft
Longer-term, Precision AI is developing drones which could eliminate the need for an expensive high-clearance sprayer. Spray drones can travel at 70 km/h, three times faster than any ground sprayer, and don’t cause soil compaction, McCann says. “Air-based ‘see and spray’ can reach new areas, more often, without the limitations of wet, hilly or narrow fields.”
After working unsuccessfully with manufacturers of helicopter-style spray drones, the company decided to design its own 21-foot propeller-driven model in the style of a traditional crop duster. McCann says, copter-style drones can’t target small areas. “The problem is that it’s like using a spray bottle in a tornado. Trying to precisely target anything is just impossible.”
The plan is to deploy a swarm of six of the drones, which would provide the same swath width as a high-clearance sprayer but cover the field three times more quickly. McCann sees limited commercial release in 2023.
He acknowledges that that drone spraying is not currently allowed by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), but says this could be reversed if the crop-duster type of drone is used to minimize spray drift. Precision AI plans to collect the data to demonstrate that its drones would be subject to the same regulations as aerial applicators.
The Regina-based company appears to have considerable resources. It lists 31 staff on its website, and McCann says that Precision AI last March raised $20 million in seed round funding from several sources, which he believes is the largest in western Canadian history.
CropLife on pesticide labels
In our February 1 issue, Gerald Pilger suggested a system under which pesticides would be sold with a “prescription” for their specific use, similar to the system when buying medications from a pharmacy. CropLife Canada asked for space to outline its position on pesticide labelling.
CropLife Canada represents the Canadian manufacturers, developers and distributors of pest control and modern plant breeding products. We understand there is a vast amount of complex information available on pesticides which can be challenging to wade through. That’s why we are working with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) to support their new labelling initiative. The goal is to make labels more consistent, which also makes them easier to search, read and understand.
Product labels are the primary tool to communicate information to enable the safe and effective use of pesticide products. Pesticide labels are regulated by the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) and are required to include specifics like directions for use and safety information.
In an effort to make pesticide label information easier to find and the approval of pesticide labels more efficient, the PMRA is currently working with pesticide registrants and other stakeholders to develop a new standard for pesticide labels, which includes standardized templates, risk mitigation statements and use of consistent language. The PMRA is consulting numerous stakeholders on the standard label template, including large grower associations, provincial agriculture representatives, and registrants.
CropLife Canada supports the continuous improvement of product labelling and is supportive of the PMRA’s current initiative to modernize pesticide labels in Canada. Our members look forward to working with the PMRA on the different components of the label improvement initiative as they are developed. We encourage you to reach out to your grower organization or directly with the PMRA through the consultation process as it continues.
