Regenerative Farming by Drone

Improve application methods even further by using agricultural drones to spread cover crops and wild flower seeds. No soil compaction is caused because we don’t touch the ground

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Regenerative farming using agricultural dronesto gain SFI incentives

Sustainable Farming Incentives

Cover crops are being pushed more and more by industry bodies to help improve soil health over time. Government SFI (Sustainable farming incentives) can be granted to individuals who apply regenerative farming methods across there land that help protect soil and improve the environment for wildlife. Wild flowers are also an option to use on unfarmed areas and areas that maybe don’t produce great yields. Applying these regenerative farming methods using agricultural drones causes no soil compaction, no deep ruts in the tram lines that lead to leaching. Less diesel is used improving your carbon emission outputs and we can also target set areas in minimal time as we can fly over existing crops.

Cover Crops Planting Methods

There are several ways to get the cover crop into the ground. Until now planting early in the spring or leaving it until after the main crop has been harvested. Both of these options have worked but they also have their downsides. Planting in the spring gives the cover crop an early start and allows it to be well established come harvest time.
Problems that can occur are issues with the cover crop competing with the main crop for vital nutrients and sometimes outgrowing the main crop. Other issues are when it comes to harvest. Adjusting the cutting height has to be thought about to prevent the cover crop being harvested at the same time increasing sorting costs and increasing the likelihood of the equipment jamming and causing delays.

Under-sowing cover crops by drone into standing wheat and cereal crops

The last option is to sow the cover crops after harvest. The cover crop is drilled after harvest to cover the soil to protect it from erosion and increase soil health by adding vital nutrients and organic matter. The downside to this method is that you have to rely on the weather. If you experience poor weather before or after harvest you will start getting behind schedule. If harvest is running late, pressure starts to build and you still have the cover crop to drill.

Regemerative farming by applying cover crops using agricultural drones into standing crops

Under-Sowing Cover Crops by Drone

The next option is to under-sow cover crops into standing cereal crops. This method would use drone technology to fly over the fields and spread the seeds at a set rate. The seeds will be able to germinate in the moist soil protected by the main crop. This method is usually done around two weeks before harvest and by this time a cover crop will be established by the time the combine hits the field. No crop damage is caused and no soil compaction happens because the surface remains untouched.
If your serious about regenerative farming then this method is a win win for both the soil health and yourself. You don’t have to worry about the cover crop competing with the main crop and you don’t have to worry about getting the cover crop drilled after harvest. To date results for this method of drilling cover crops has been impressive.

Wildflower Mix

One of the sustainable farming incentives is to create strips or areas of wildflower mixes to help create a sustainable home for wildlife. You can look at using areas that are currently unfarmed or set aside some strips at the edge of existing fields. You might have an area of a field that never produces a good yield which you can look to utilise to your benefit. With excellent payments available through SFI you can look at option of getting the seeds established. Spreading by drone is a sustainable way to do this. The ground again remains untouched but it is also a great tool for reaching areas that are hard to reach with conventional farming appliances. Think more of the unfarmed areas that are difficult to get to. Even the strips of fields might be more cost effective by use of drone technology. Small strips can easily be mapped out using the drone software in a matter of minutes.

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