Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
The purpose of this project is to provide drone technology outreach education to cooperative extension professionals in the State of Arizona with a goal of CE to be able to share this information with their clients including agriculture producers. Currently, there is a demand to fill 100,000 drone pilot positions by 2025 (Posea, 2022). Pilots are needed in all industries including agriculture, energy, and the environment. Drone use in agriculture includes plant health protection, pest control, livestock management, soil analysis, and aerial survey.
Drones are used in the energy industry to survey solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and inspect wind turbine systems. In
2023, we conducted seven on-site drone workshops to tribal extension centers and community Chapter houses as part of a Native American Agriculture Fund Grant. Our audiences included both adults and youth. The response was positive. Workshop presentation topics will include types of drones, components of drone operating systems, getting started with drones, drone pilot safety and responsibilities, recreation versus commercial drone operations, registering a drone with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), preparing for The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) exam, and preparation for the Part 107 Commercial Pilot Exam.
We will use a combination of methods to present and share our information. We will schedule online webinars with
PowerPoint presentations, schedule a minimum of eight face-to-face demonstration day-long workshops at multiple county offices for professionals to view materials, observe flying demonstrations, create a take-home a write-in workbook, and provide opportunities for our workshop participants to gain hands-on experience flying a mapping drone, and using a commercial software application to create a mapping mission for flying a drone during the first two years of our project. We will include flying demonstrations from experienced professional drone pilots certified to operate larger multi-copter drones used in the spray applications in fields.
Project objectives from proposal:
One of our objectives is to measure a change in program participant knowledge, attitude, and skills (KAS) about drone
technology. What do our extension and NRCS personnel know about drones? How do our program participants feel (attitude) about drones? What percentage of our program participants actively use drones? We will survey participants pre-workshop instruction and again at post-workshop instruction using a survey on Qualtrics.
We want to understand what do our participants know about drones, what their attitude is toward drones, and determine their level of skill working with drones. Can our effort produce a measurable change in the way our program participants perceive drone technology? How likely are program participants to adopt drone technology for instruction and demonstration at their community sites? Specifically, our program objectives are:
- To engage Cooperative Extension agents interested in precision technology to agriculture producers.
- To provide hands-on opportunities for participating workshop attendees to fly drones with remote controls under guidance of commercial drone pilot
- To create a measurable change in program participant knowledge of drones. This would be measured using pre-and post-workshop assessments.
- To create a measurable change in program participant attitude about drones.
- To create a measurable change in program participant skill set of drone operation.
- To conduct a minimum of eight face-to-face workshops at multiple locations throughout Arizona.
To assist with a minimum of six county offices in drone system adoption and use in their local programs for 4-H, or producer workshops.