Scouting Winter Wheat with a UAS (Drone)

This past Sunday was one of the nicest days we have had to date this spring. That being said, it was time to take advantage of it and check out how our winter wheat crop was doing.

This picture was taken last fall of one of our wheat fields before the winter settled in.

Winter wheat gets planted in the fall right after we harvest our soybeans. The wheat then grows fairly quickly but becomes dormant as soon as the weather turns cold.

As much of the midwest and beyond would agree, this year was an especially hard winter, and it had the potential to be very hard on the wheat as well. That being said, I am not sure if one of our wheat fields will make it through due to damage from the cold.

Whats the best way to determine if it will make it you ask?  The answer is simple, to scout the field.  Basically, we go out into the fields to see how it is coming along, and see how it is beginning to green up. New green growth is good while seeing brown leaves much to be desired. The problem is, the fields are still too muddy to walk, that means we have to use alternate methods to check on the wheat’s health.

Usually this involves a simple and quick method of scouting, which involves driving along the road to get a look at the crop. As you may imagine, you can only see so much from the seat of the truck while driving down the road.

This year, I have a new crop scouting tool to help me more accurately keep an eye on our fields.

You can see the entire UAS kit by clicking here (instagram) http://instagram.com/p/mgYhp5hiys/

So this past Sunday, I flew our wheat field with the hopes of learning how our wheat handled the winter weather and to determine if it will be good enough to keep or to plant into another crop for this growing season. With this UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) aka Drone, I can quickly fly my 80 acre field, download the images it takes and make a decision as to the future of the crop.

Check back soon as I will post what I have found while flying the field!

Meanwhile, check out a few other videos I have taken with my UAS (Drone) on our YouTube Channel by visiting:  http://www.youtube.com/boucherfarmsil

Thank you and God Bless!

Matt Boucher

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