Developing agricultural climate change adaptation analysis methodologies for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Managing both drainage and irrigation in agricultural systems will be an increasing challenge as weather becomes more unpredictable and volatile due to global climate change. UAVs could offer a tool that enables rapid deployment and observation of large tracts of land. This project will establish a suite of methodologies to enable the rapid analysis and interpretation of extremely high resolution UAV data into farm management ready information. The specific objectives of the project are to 1. Collect ground and remote sensing data at multiple field sites during the wet and dry season; 2. Parameterize and validate remote sensing data with ground data to establish spatially contiguous predictive models for field water dynamics and crop productivity; 3. Provide a clear methodology that can be utilized by UAV operators. To accomplish these objectives Spire Aerobotics Inc. will work with a team from the University of British Columbia's Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes (SAL) Laboratory to collect and analyze data from farm fields in Delta, British Columbia (BC). Given climate change predictions, Canadian farmers will have an opportunity expand their role in global food production if they are able to cope with increasingly unpredictable and volatile weather. Developing UAV methodologies for better managing drainage and irrigation will help farmers across Canada improve their capacity to adapt to these conditions which will likely have important implication for the sustainability of their production and economic returns. With this methodology development UAV technology could be particularly important in places like Delta with fine textured soils and the extensive regions of Canada where drainage and irrigation are currently being used.