Penn State Extension demonstrates cover crop seeding by drone
JEFFERSON TWP — The Thiele Dairy Farm has been using no till and cover crop farming to maintain the health of its soil for 10 years.
William Thiele, who runs the farm with his father, Edward, and twin brother, James, serves on the board of the Pennsylvania No Till Alliance, which promotes the practice.
The Thieles use a grain drill to plant seeds for cover crops, such as rye, in fields after corn is harvested.
They never tried using a drone to spread cover crop seeds over standing corn, but hosted a demonstration Tuesday of the new approach from the Penn State Extension.
“We’ve never done that,” William Thiele said, standing in a field with about a dozen other county farmers and County Commissioner Kim Geyer.
Sjoerd Duiker, the Penn State soil management professor who opened the program by explaining no till and cover cropping practices, expressed skepticism about the aerial application of seeds over a standing corn crop.
Seeds dropped from a drone land on the ground and can get caught in the leaves of the corn plants, Duiker said. Seeds grow best when they are in the ground and receive rain. He said he believes drills work better because they put the seeds in the ground.
“It might not work,” Duiker said.
However, drone cover cropping can be effective and has some advantages over the use of mechanized grain drills, said Stephen Campbell, an agronomy educator with the Penn State Extension in Butler, and Josh Zimmerman, a drone operator from Appalachian Land Management of Mars.
Campbell said using a drone to spread cover crop seeds avoids damage to standing crop from drills.
Drones can be programmed to autonomously spread seeds on a field and the amount of seeds applied per acre and the spray pattern can be adjusted on the controller, Zimmerman said. The huge drone he used in the demonstration has a 40 liter capacity, but they are available with capacities up to 100 liters, he said.
The wind from the propellers causes the corn plants to flutter allowing the seeds to fall to the ground, he said. His drone has two sets of propellers on each of its four arms.
Carrying a full load, the drone battery lasts eight to 10 minutes, he said.
Appalachian Land Management mostly works in the mine reclamation and forestry industries, but is starting to get involved in agriculture, Zimmerman said.
Another speaker said the state offers income tax credits for farmers, landowners and businesses for the purchase of drones or the cost of implementing other conservation practices through the Resource Enhancement and Protection Program.
Agricultural operations are required to have up-to-date erosion and sedimentation plans and manure/nutrient management plans, and are eligible for up to $250,000 of tax credits in a seven-year period through the program. For equipment like drones, farmers can receive a 50% cost reimbursement through tax credits.
