Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Yijing Chen、Chwenming Yang*

Abstract:

The renewal of farming concepts and the advancement of technologies have driven the improvement and innovation of agricultural management. From food production, agricultural product marketing, to agricultural environmental protection and ecological maintenance, the thinking and practices are progressing with the pulse of the times. It is hoped that human beings can live a happy life with enough food supply, and that people can live a bright and colorful life. Agricultural drones have emerged at this time, not only at the forefront of the current agricultural industry, but also becoming an aerial artificial intelligence helper for the future development of agriculture. They have evolved from a single operating tool to an agricultural information/data platform, an adversity/disaster detection (monitoring) eye and ear, an epidemic prevention and disaster prevention and rescue hub, and even a multi-functional tool for agricultural net zero and carbon management. The introduction and utilization of agricultural drones in Taiwan's farming system has gradually evolved from the early spraying and fertilizing of rice cultivation to a variety of applications. It is expected that, in the future, various sensing devices, advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and customized operating systems can be combined to be widely used to further improve the quality of agricultural and food production, the efficiency of agricultural management, and a tool to cope with climate change and agricultural net zero. With that, it can provide data-based, multi-target, high-efficiency, low-risk, and multi-featured solutions to contribute to the realization of the vision of sustainable agriculture. This article integrates relevant information and scenarios to describe the advantages and challenges of agricultural drones. In view of the future, it hopes that agricultural practitioners will be far-sighted and insightful about opportunities, and agricultural stakeholders will find niches for industry development, and work together for mutual benefit and win-win results to usher in a new era of agriculture.

Key words:Drones, Agricultural drones, Agricultural applications, Precision agriculture, Smart agriculture

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