Summit Agro Chile is a multinational Japanese company specialized in agricultural sustainable inputs that has been in Chile for 10 years; it provides its customers the services of AgriTech, advanced technologies, that increase productivity and diminishes environmental impact.
In line with its permanent commitment with the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, María Carolina Orellana, agronomist engineer, MS in charge of AgriTech Services in Summit Agro says: “the implementation of new technologies is key to increase productive efficiency in agriculture, especially with the scenario of climate change”.
Among the main products of the brand are the spraying drones that have the advantage of being easy to use and almost autonomous. “In China, I have seen them being used by 60 to 70-year-old farmers without any difficulty”, says Claudio Valdés, AgriThech and Seipro assistant manager.
There are around 80 thousand hectares of crops and fruit trees being overflown by DJI Chinese drones.
Drones, supplements to traditional equipment
Intended as a supplement tool to traditional farming equipment, this DJI drones can be important in three big moments of the prune productive process: from protection against winter diseases to the application of treatments during blooming, sun blocking and drying, as long as the directions in the label of each product are obeyed.
First, during the winter, heavy rains flood the soil and make it difficult for traditional machinery to operate in the fields. This is a crucial time to apply preventive treatments for diseases in the wood. The spraying drones solve this problem because they operate from the air applying bio fungicides as Trichoderma on time protecting in this way the trees without the need to wait for the soil to dry.
Second, during the blooming season, specific applications are needed to prevent diseases that affect the setting and development of the fruit. Here, drones are key to apply fungicides and bio stimulants evenly without affecting the structure of the soil or compromising the quality of the crop. Moreover, its autonomous and programable capacity enables night applications to optimize the use of inputs.
Third, after the harvest the plums are put in sun drying fields. Drones not only make it easier to apply disinfectants to these fields, but also, due to the power of their propellers, they help turning the plums to allow them to dry more evenly. This function reduces manual labor, it speeds up the process and it minimizes the contamination risks.
“These devises not only improve productivity and reduce costs, but also allow precise applications in critical moments of the season. Spraying drones have proved to be an innovative, efficient and sustainable solution”, says Valdés.
Characteristics: these drones are 3 by 3-meters and have 16 propellers; they are NOT fumigation drones, but spraying drones. They can cover 50 to 60 hectares per day versus the 8 to 10 hectares conventional machines can cover and they reduce the use of water in 80 to 90%. To achieve this, they have batteries that last 10 minutes and can be recharged in another 10 minutes. They are 100% electric, they are autonomous and they use artificial intelligence.
In relation to safety and health, the operator is not in contact with the product applied unlike the tractor driver.
Drone technology has been in use in Chile since 2015 and it is estimated that today there are 800 to 1,000 drones operating in the country.
Other advanced technologies
Some of the services Summit Agro has available at the moment are the following:
The success of farming production depends a lot on the health of the soil and on having precise information about its composition. SoilScan is an innovative monitoring service that allows farmers to get a detailed diagnosis of the fertility of the soil through gamma ray sensor technology. This tool delivers high precision maps that identify nutrient deficiencies and other conditions that can affect the crop growth.
In this way, producers can make informed decisions about fertilizer and amendment applications, thus optimizing resources and reducing unnecessary costs. SoilScan is not only a precise tool but it is also it is versatile adapting to various types of crops from fruit trees to extensive crops.
Topscan, Topography Services and aerial photogrammetry, plantable area designs: joining the work of topographers and the technology of aerial images, Topscan Services delivers topographic maps and highly detailed level curves; it delivers a 15 working day final report in several digital formats.
The joint use of SoilScan and Topscan allows to design the watering and drainage sectors efficiently and complementarily in the plantation to avoid several watering and fertilization problems, once the orchard is established, to reach the crop potentials.
CanopyScan Drone: canopy monitoring is an essential tool for the efficient management of crops and fruit trees. To do so, Summit Agro offers CanopyScan Drone; with drones equipped with high resolution cameras, it is possible to generate multispectral and thermal index mapping to define differences in strength, greenery and temperature within the same farm.
Yieldscan: this highly professional service predicts yield of crops, fruit trees and vineyards. The service allows the generation of a very precise predictive production model which can be used to calculate the yield in advance.
Cropview: it is an integrated platform that delivers weekly high-resolution satellite images. The platform integrates a field management notebook and it is linked to local weather stations allowing to track and work in a better way the numerus activities done in a farm.
