UK regulators now allow farmers to use drones to spray and tend their crops. Advocates say drones can help reduce costs and emissions while allowing farmers to work their fields in wet conditions- a historical challenge for farmers across the isles.
China’s XAG believes it can help farmers crack this age-old code, and prove pivotal the race to modernize Europe’s farming infrastructure.
#farming #drones #automation #technology
China’s XAG believes it can help farmers crack this age-old code, and prove pivotal the race to modernize Europe’s farming infrastructure.
#farming #drones #automation #technology
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NewsTranscript
00:00Taking off, XAG drones on display at Cereals, the annual show dedicated to crop farming.
00:08The Guangzhou-based company has spent three years trying to break into the market,
00:12knowing a welcome by UK authorities would help ease their entry into Western Europe.
00:17UK market for us is very important because it's not only for the UK but also for the whole Europe
00:23because for the neighboring countries, actually they keep a close eye on the development in British market
00:29and not only for their regulations but also for other scenarios.
00:34After a report showed the wider use of drones could contribute $55 billion to the economy by 2030,
00:41while cutting 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions and creating 650,000 new jobs,
00:47the British government has got behind them.
00:50Behind me you can see traditional sprayers and they're large and extremely heavy on the soil
00:55and it's these that the British government are trying to replace with drones.
00:59They want to get over 180,000 into the air by the end of the decade.
01:04Farmers can now apply for a 60% grant towards the cost of agricultural drones
01:09while UK regulators have also cleared the spraying of a commonly used pesticide, slug pellets.
01:15Other chemical permissions are expected to follow.
01:18XAG's UK partner says months of wet weather has also prompted British farmers to look to drones.
01:24They can lose their entire crop to slugs because they can't get on to treat them at the right time
01:29and it is about doing it at the right time.
01:32Slugs come out when it's wet.
01:34Tractors can't go in the field when it's wet.
01:36So the farmer is desperately waiting for it to get dry enough that he can get on with his tractor
01:41while watching the slugs eat all of his fresh emerging crop.
01:45The changes and incentives are leading to a growing number of people investing in drones
01:50to offer uber-style services in painting, seeding and now spraying chemicals.
01:55The business with the drones is absolutely new in the UK
01:59and farmers didn't use the drones previously for the fields or for the greenhouses cleaning.
02:05So we're learning about the industry, we are helping guys to form the market.
02:11XAG is not the only tech company looking to revolutionise traditional farming practices
02:16with robots an increasingly common sight.
02:19If we target pesticides and apply them in a more targeted way,
02:24we're going to dramatically reduce usage, we're going to reduce our carbon footprint.
02:28If we can do it through electrically driven drones, it's going to change everything.
02:34Farmers are still sort of cautious but they're great takers up of technology when they need to.
02:39Costing around $50,000, six XAG drones were sold in the UK last year.
02:45That number has jumped to 12 this month.
02:48Having cleared regulatory hurdles to fly and now spray chemicals,
02:51the Guangzhou-based company says it hopes to replicate the success it's seen in Asia in Western Europe.
02:58Catherine Drew, CGTN, Bedfordshire.