Iowa State Field Day to Cover the Use of UAVs for Agriculture

The agricultural use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be the subject of an Aug. 27 field day at the Iowa State University Agricultural Engineering and Agronomy Research Farms.

The field day will include the following events:

• A team of Iowa State researchers who study UAVs will summarize the ways the technology can be used by crop producers and plan a UAV flight demonstration, if weather permits;

• Antonio Mallarino, agronomy professor, will talk about the potential use of aerial images for soil fertility management beyond the detection of nitrogen deficiency to define sampling zones for phosphorus, potassium and soil pH;

• Kristine Tidgren, an attorney with the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State, will discuss the law and policy surrounding UAVs; and

• UAV vendors will speak about their products.

The event starts with registration at 8:30 a.m., and the program is from 9 a.m. to noon, followed by lunch. It is open to the public at no charge.