It is almost time for the 12th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) again, being held this year at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento, Calif., from July 20-23. As in years past, the conference promises to be a global event with 400 precision farming experts from over 40 countries expected to attend.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sometimes referred to as “drones,” have found a use beyond the military.

It’s hard to believe that only a year has passed since our editors assembled the first print edition of this publication. Reading through that inaugural issue again, one of the first things that came to mind was how much the precision farming industry has evolved in just a short time.

A grain farmer near Moree in north-west NSW is looking into the potential for the use of drones and unmanned vehicles in precision agriculture.

Idaho farmer Robert Blair’s precision farming journey began with a personal digital assistant (PDA) and an antenna that he fastened to his cap in 2003.

Crop scouting, 3-D mapping, spot spraying and pathogen detection all could be performed by unmanned aerial vehicles to cut labor and input costs and improve decision making.