Are we still managing orchards the old-fashioned way, or is it time for a new perspective?
Right now, drones in Georgia are mostly used just for spraying. But they can do so much more. As our apple orchards rapidly expand, managing thousands of trees by hand is becoming nearly impossible.
Many managers still send workers row by row to manually spot sick plants or empty spaces for new seedlings. It is exhausting work. Satellite data sounds like an easy fix, but it simply isn’t sharp enough to see individual trees.
Mapping drones create perfect digital layouts of the land. With simple software, they can automatically count trees, pinpoint missing seedlings, and catch early signs of plant stress before it spreads. They can even check summer pruning results in a fraction of the time.
Best of all, drones save this data. You can track your orchard’s health history season after season.
What are your thoughts - what do you think is stopping orchard managers from taking the leap into precision farming?