Agricultural research on uses of unmanned aircraft is becoming more visible throughout the World. Scientists are exploring how they can be used for various agricultural activities, including surveying fields; crop health and watering; bringing out pesticides and fertilizers or other beneficial substances; and herding or searching for animals.

Super-high resolution spectral imaging will garner data-driven insight, allowing for more targeted fertilizing and better use of water and labor. The need for common fertilizers, such as nitrogen, as well as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides that pollute local waterways could be substantially reduced. Even for organic farmers, monitoring for disease and drought could be made far easier.The beauty of the whole thing is that it saves the farmer money and helps the environment, too,” says Kevin Price, a longtime plant ecologist at Kansas State University who is now an executive with AgPixel, one of a group of relatively new companies selling drones and data analytics packages that render imagery useful to farmers.