Amid technology worries, farm sector still eyes its potential

A farmer sprays pesticide with a drone in a wheat field in Taizhou, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Unlike conventional spraying tractors and high-tech ground robots that trample anything in their way and compact the soil, drones minimise collateral damage. — AFP

WASHINGTON: If GPS-guided tractors led the previous revolution in agriculture, the next generation of farming is likely to be marked by unmanned drones with onboard sensors that can spot weeds and decide when and how much herbicide to spray to control their growth.

“We are thinking about technologies like drones, the integration of drones in a production facility that can spot out the weeds and where you specifically need to treat,” said Chavonda Jacobs-Young, the undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the Agriculture Department.