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The students designed a semi-autonomous aerial vehicle, more commonly known as a drone, to operate like honey bees by spraying pollen over date palm trees at a nursery in Yuma.
Traditionally the cultivation of dates has been very labor intensive. For example, workers have had to climb and pollinate each female tree by hand. But drones are changing the way things have been done for thousands of years.
“GPS is used on just about everything,” says Paul Brierley, head of the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA). “Rows that are perfectly straight allow closer cultivation — enough room between the plants and the knives to minimize waste.”
Brierley said there’s a growing consensus, including himself, around the county that the quality of mobile phone service has gone down this year, and the usual summer respite when there are fewer users hasn’t happened.
The Yuma Daily Sun featured our Center of Excellence Seminar Series about Soil Genetic Testing to Assess Fusarium Pressure on the front page of the business section.
Vic Smith, Vice Chair of the Yuma Center of Excellence Advisory Council, was honored at the Forbes AgTech Summit for his commitment to innovation.
