http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526491/agricultural-drones/
Agricultural Drones
Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to increase yields and reduce crop damage.
Breakthrough
Easy-to-use agricultural drones equipped with cameras, for less than $1,000.
Why It Matters
Close monitoring of crops could improve water use and pest management.
Key Players
3D Robotics
Yamaha
PrecisionHawk
Ryan Kunde is a winemaker whose family’s picture-perfect vineyard nestles in the Sonoma Valley north of San Francisco. But Kunde is not your average farmer. He’s also a drone operator—and he’s not alone. He’s part of the vanguard of farmers who are using what was once military aviation technology to grow better grapes using pictures from the air, part of a broader trend of using sensors and robotics to bring big data to precision agriculture.