Usefulness of agricultural drones for affordable early seeding of multi-species cover crop

Commodities

Practices

Establishing a multi-species fall or winter cover crop (CC) is challenging in the North Central SARE region due to a brief growing season after the Fall grain harvest and the prohibitively high cost of high-clearance implements that would be required to seed prior to crop harvest. Only a few species are suitable for the short season, so the full suite of benefits provided by multi-purpose, mixed-species CC is unavailable to most farmers.

Broadcast seeding CC by uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) into a standing cash crop allows more growing days and therefore, more CC species options, but it is unknown what combination of planting dates and seeding rates will optimize CC benefits and crop management inputs to Ohio farms. In the proposed study, Usefulness of agricultural drones for affordable early seeding of multi-species cover crop, we will examine two on-farm seasons of CC germination, vegetation coverage, and biomass accumulation after UAV seeding at two rates compared to an unshaded control subplot. We will compare CC performance on three farms in northeast Ohio under three pre-harvest planting dates relative to post-harvest broadcast planting CC typically used by local farmers. Farmer collaborators will share field management histories and plans and have agreed to modify herbicide schedules to reduce potential impacts on early-seeded CC. A third planting season on two or more farms will occur as a field demonstration coordinated with the county Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The proposed research will increase our understanding of the usefulness of UAV for multi-species CC establishment compared to later CC seeding post-harvest. The results may help farmers plant more total area into CC with affordable UAV planting while reducing fuel costs, reducing soil compaction, and increasing benefits to soils. UAV has advantages compared to tractor seeding, including earlier access to fields without causing crop damage, and is more accurate, nimble, safe, and affordable relative to manned aircraft in agronomic applications. This technique is appropriate to limited resource farmers due to the low cost-of-entry fee for service and reduced crop input costs associated with multi-species CC use, which should provide better N retention and nutrient scavenging than late-seeded grasses alone. It is well suited to small, hilly, or otherwise hard-to-plant acreage as well as prime farmland of medium to small fields. We will better understand scenarios under which UAV seeding is beneficial and provide farmers with best practices for CC establishment by UAV seeding.

Project objectives:

1. Compare each CC species performance in the multi-species UAV early -seeded mix.
2. Examine impact of shading caused by the standing crop on CC germination and fall biomass.
3. Estimate costs and benefits of seeding into standing crops by UAV relative to typical method.

Learning outcomes: awareness of UAV seeding opportunities and better CC decision-making capacity.

Action outcomes: include affordable opportunities for CC implementation on more farms.

System outcomes: Affordable UAV planting techniques could increase total CC acres to better retain nutrients, increase soil organic matter, reduce compaction, and reduce labor, fertilizer, and pesticide inputs to improve landscape resilience.