Sky’s the Limit

By Paula Bandy For years, whenever aphids appeared on my indoor herbs, I reached for a simple homemade remedy: cinnamon and cayenne mixed with water and sprayed by hand across the leaves. It wasn’t sophisticated technology. I was simply a gardener trying to protect a few plants. Today, Oregon agriculture is applying similar ideas– natural products, targeted applications and minimized waste– using technology that provides a glimpse into agriculture’s future. Instead of a hand sprayer, imagine an autonomous aircraft carrying 20 gallons of material. It flies 10 feet above a vineyard canopy, navigating by GPS, adjusting droplet size in real time and returns automatically for a battery change before resuming precisely where it left off. This technology is already operating across thousands of acres in Oregon. “We started drone applications in 2023,” noted Lane Marsh, ag-services technology lead for Pratum Co-op. “Immediately after graduating from Or

by Hilary Berg · source ↗