Many farmers say they’re finding success utilizing drones to get their fall cover crops seeded.

Jeremy Neff, who farms in southern Illinois, says choosing drone seeding for the first time this year made a big difference.

“We did that early part of September to help get that growth going here before the fall.” He says, “We were lucky enough to catch some of those hurricane rains. We normally plant the cover crop after the corn is harvested.”

Golden Harvest agronomist Nate Prater tells Brownfield drones are becoming another key tool for many farming operations.

“There’s definitely more farmers that are doing it.” He says, “The retail outfits have stepped up in it, and they not only have the helicopters, but they’ve also got now two or three drones. Helicopters take care of the bigger fields, and the drones take care of the smaller ones.”

Neff says he’ll likely use the practice again. “With the planes we never quite got the coverage.” He says, “The drone it looks like that might be the way to go.”

Prater says cover crop seeding joins fungicide applications and scouting as ways drones are finding more widespread use in agriculture.

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