Phantom 4 agriculture advice

[isaacfromcanada]

Hello all,

I have recently got my hands on a DJI Phantom 4 and have been learning how to fly it. I have also been researching ways into making some money back on the drone, and have learned that arial photography for Agriculture is a market where drones are becoming very successful.

This is perfect because I live in an area where it is primarily farm land and where agriculture is popular. This would be great for me as I would be able to use my drone to benefit the farmers surrounding me, and make a little money back from the drone.

I am asking for advice from anyone who has experience with agriculture related to drone photography and how I could use my Phantom 4 in relation to that.

Thanks everyone!

Isaac

 

[John Locke]

Hello all,

I have recently got my hands on a DJI Phantom 4 and have been learning how to fly it. I have also been researching ways into making some money back on the drone, and have learned that arial photography for Agriculture is a market where drones are becoming very successful.

This is perfect because I live in an area where it is primarily farm land and where agriculture is popular. This would be great for me as I would be able to use my drone to benefit the farmers surrounding me, and make a little money back from the drone.

I am asking for advice from anyone who has experience with agriculture related to drone photography and how I could use my Phantom 4 in relation to that.

Thanks everyone!

Isaac

I have no experience with farming, but I have listened to a lot of podcast reports on this market space, as I'm curious myself. From what I've heard so far, standard photography isn't very profitable. Mapping a field with standard photos provide only fundamental data about crop health. Where the money is made is with IR cameras, showing crops with problems based on the temperature the crop is on certain clear days. This is a specialty area so the interpretation of the data received is the key value to the farmer, being able to prescribe a specific treatment to a specific area of the crop that isn't doing well. For this it helps to know the farming industry and various crop amendments to improve results. And if you make recommendations don't work, you won't be in business very long. This is a specialty niche that requires a special IR camera that won't fit on a Phantom. It takes an Inspire or Matrice 100 industrial drone with the ability to swap out cameras to do the job right. Those IR cameras are very expensive too, a considerable investment that is only justifiable if you already know farming.

A less expensive solution is using NDVI data from a P3, Inspire or Matrice, kits from Aerial Media Pros.

A Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is an equation that takes into account the amount of infrared reflected by plants. Live green plants absorb solar radiation, which they use as a source of energy in the process of photosynthesis.

 

[DanMan32]

You also need to be certified part 107 to be flying commercial.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Meta4]

I am asking for advice from anyone who has experience with agriculture related to drone photography and how I could use my Phantom 4 in relation to that.

Isaac ... a good place to start might be: Agriculture

 

[isaacfromcanada]

I have no experience with farming, but I have listened to a lot of podcast reports on this market space, as I'm curious myself. From what I've heard so far, standard photography isn't very profitable. Mapping a field provides only fundamental data. Where the money is made is with IR cameras, showing crops with problems based on the temperature the crop is on certain clear days. This is a specialty area so the interpretation of the data received is the key value to the farmer, being able to prescribe a specific treatment to a specific area of the crop that isn't doing well. For this you need to know the farming industry and various crop amendments to improve results. And if those recommendations don't work, you won't be in business very long. This is a specialty niche that requires a special IR camera that won't fit on a Phantom. It takes an Inspire or Matrice 100 industrial drone with the ability to swap out cameras to do the job right. Those IR cameras are very expensive too, a considerable investment that is only justifiable if you already know farming.

Thanks John! I have read that the IR camera's do not fit on the phantom.

 

[Meta4]

You also need to be certified part 107 to be flying commercial.

That's for US flyers - not Canada

 

[Trevor Cisney]

Having a IR camera won't give you enuff information to make recomendations on most crops. Drones and IR cameras are being used more and more every day in agriculture to produce plant health maps, maps ranches, stuff like that but you will need a pest control advisers license in order to make recommendation.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[reversevector]

I'm using a Phantom 3 Standard on our own farm, it's a great tool for checking crop health, downed fences or stray livestock. An infrared camera is needed for NDVI images but visuals are good enough to see general crop health, especially with some image processing.

You'll need mission planning apps like Litchi or DroneDeploy on Android, these will fly the drone and take overlapping pictures automatically. Then you'll need to stitch these photos together on a computer. Small farmers probably won't need orthorectified imagery and 3D data, just an overhead view of their paddocks. There's more stuff in the Agriculture specific subforum.

 

[isaacfromcanada]

I'm using a Phantom 3 Standard on our own farm, it's a great tool for checking crop health, downed fences or stray livestock. An infrared camera is needed for NDVI images but visuals are good enough to see general crop health, especially with some image processing.

You'll need mission planning apps like Litchi or DroneDeploy on Android, these will fly the drone and take overlapping pictures automatically. Then you'll need to stitch these photos together on a computer. Small farmers probably won't need orthorectified imagery and 3D data, just an overhead view of their paddocks. There's more stuff in the Agriculture specific subforum.

Thanks for the reply Reversevector! Are you currently using a thermal camera on your Phatnom 3? If so, how do you mount it to the P3? I will have to look into either Lichi or DroneDeploy, I am using a Samsung tablet to fly my P4.

 

[reversevector]

Thanks for the reply Reversevector! Are you currently using a thermal camera on your Phatnom 3? If so, how do you mount it to the P3? I will have to look into either Lichi or DroneDeploy, I am using a Samsung tablet to fly my P4.

I'm thinking of hacking a cheap action camera to see infrared and then somehow mounting that on the back of the Phantom. I hope the drone can take off with all that extra weight.

Publiclab has more info on hacking cameras for NIR and getting NDVI images.

 

[dronexvisual]

That's for US flyers - not Canada

In Canada you need to apply for an SFOC. Or apply for an exmption

 

[Islanddrone]

Having a IR camera won't give you enuff information to make recomendations on most crops. Drones and IR cameras are being used more and more every day in agriculture to produce plant health maps, maps ranches, stuff like that but you will need a pest control advisers license in order to make recommendation.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Yes you are right. I am a crop consultant here in Canada and the NDVI systems are great to isolate problems. Fly a set mission every 3 weeks like on Litchi and you do have an awesome scouting system