New technology for better drone-based data collection and analysis is helping turn North Carolina’s agricultural research stations into farms of the future.
A technological revolution is taking flight at North Carolina’s agricultural research stations.
At the Sandhills Research Station in Jackson Spring, a drone emerges from a weatherproof box, ascends to a pre-programmed altitude and flies over acres of fields, collecting images that will push forward solutions to make agriculture more data-driven, profitable and sustainable.
There’s no pilot on-site holding a remote control. Instead, the mission is initiated from a computer miles away at NC State University’s campus in Raleigh…