Farmer’s perception of the opportunites offered by drone technology in arable crop production

Abstract

The incredible scale of development in the world requires constant innovation of technologies used in agriculture. Precision agriculture is also one of the most defining trends of our time in drone technology, which represents a revolutionary innovation in arable crop production. Its continuous monitoring provides many opportunities to assess the specific culture, estimate yields, determine water shortages, nutrient deficiencies, and apply other decision support. Frequent flights provide farmers with up-to-date information so that they can respond to changes in status quickly and cost-effectively. The use of drones is also responsible for improving the competitiveness of agriculture, drones and solutions based on them are spreading rapidly around the world. After reviewing the relevant international literature, publications and materials published by stakeholders involved in drone technology, we conducted a questionnaire survey among farmers based in northern Hungary. Commitment and willingness to precision developments were discovered how open they are to modern agriculture achievements, to what extent are they willing to sacrifice technology, especially spray drones, to what extent do they keep in mind aspects related to the environmental load and with what willingness to invest. overall, the perception of precision elements is positive, farmers 71% considers the use of drones in plant protection, for example, a correct and useful idea, which reduces treading damage, chemical use and soil use.