Agricultural drones to help fight climate change

Brazil's oldest university, the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), paves the way for the use of agricultural drones as part of a large-scale reforestation project in the country.

As a country with the second largest forest fund in the world, Brazil is committed to the goal of stopping deforestation in the country and reversing the negative trend by 2030.

However, the slow process with manual planting of the trees is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of the ambitious goal, and on time. For this reason, in the South American country they are conducting an interesting experiment - afforestation using agricultural drones.

For the implementation of the project in Brazil, they deploy the XAG agricultural drones and trust their effectiveness to restore the country's forests.

The project is implemented by the oldest university in Brazil, the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and is notable not only for its scale, but also for paving the way for autonomous technologies in the process of afforestation of large areas for the first time.

The process of preparing for afforestation using agricultural drones is much faster and easier than if done by hand. The specifics of the seeds themselves are taken into account in advance, and through the mobile application of XAG drones, lines, flight speed and application rate are set. In this way, an even and more accurate seed distribution is ensured.

Work productivity is the main advantage that XAG agricultural drones provide in this experiment. However, in addition, they can sow next to more hard-to-reach places that are impossible for human afforestation.

Deforestation has become one of the main global problems and threatens the food security of all humanity. Precisely because of this, innovations are aimed at improving this factor, namely drones that can provide faster, efficient and easy seed laying of the forests of the future.

Now that the first seeds of hope have been sown, the project managers will strictly monitor the germination rate and select the most suitable seed mix suitable for drone application.

During this time, the university is also conducting another experiment with XAG drones, whose focuses are on fertilization and pesticide control for economically important tree species.

In conclusion, Prof. Alessandro Camargo Angelo, project manager, summarizes:

“We know how laborious it is to plant new trees, so we relied on a new technology that we can manage easily and with high precision. Such innovations are always welcome.”