Jonah Johnson from Prairie Winds Aerial Drones
Sirrina Martinez
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
Jonah Johnson, 25, who farms with his father and brother near Woodstock, started Prairie Aerial Drones after searching for a solution in his own pasture.
“Pastures are hard to reach areas,” he said. “That’s sort of the reason I got my drone. “I couldn’t reach all of the corners, nooks and crannies in my pasture. You can reach anything with a drone.”
Johnson started his business last spring, getting the paperwork rolling to be able to operate a drone in the area. Aside from trying to find a solution for covering his pasture, he recognized the safety concerns with trying to do so on the ground.
”It’s just so dangerous for farmers to go out with their 4-Wheeler and side-by-side and try to spray some of these pastures in southwest Minnesota with the Buffalo Ridge,” he said. “Here you’ve got some large washouts from rivers and stuff, you take a long tumble down a hill.”
While aerial spraying has its challenges such as wind, the benefits are notable, Johnson said. Aside from providing a safer alternative for covering difficult terrain, the aerial drone can ensure better coverage of that rugged terrain.
“It’s a safer route and you get better coverage from it,” he said. “It basically runs off of RTK, which is exactly what auto steers tractors.”
Johnson bought his drone, a DJI P40, over the winter. The equipment can carry a pay load of up to 220 pounds in dry weight and 10.5 gallons in liquid. He started out spraying pastures, but has expanded into fungicide and insecticide application, which has turned out to be his busiest season.
Additionally, he can broadcast seed cover crops, winter wheat, rye and more. The technology continues to evolve, he said, and it will continue to do so to the benefit of producers.
“It’s exciting new technology and we are just at the beginning cusp of it,” he said “I think this is going to be a much bigger thing and it is a lot safer form of application. A lot of the studies I have seen have it placed right below ground application. The only thing holding it back right now is battery capability.”
While covering pasture is naturally a little slower, the drone can cover a notable amount of land in an hour.
“I can probably cover about 30 to 40 acres an hour,” he said. “Pasture slows down because you are going a lot slower to try to keep up with the terrain. The radar system has to be able to keep up with the adjustments of altitude.”
While he plans on building up his fleet, like other aerial drone operators, Johnson is working to navigate changing U.S. laws surrounding Chinese-based equipment.
“There are some laws that are sort of holding us back right now as drone operators,” he said. “The U.S. is leaning more towards United States built drones. DJI is a Chinese-based company. Really the only maps being used are the same you see on Google Maps. They’re phenomenal drones.
The terrain-following is top notch. That’s the problem here in southwest Minnesota. The terrain-following capabilities with the U.S. based drones just don’t follow the terrain as well as DJI does. They’re just light years ahead of any U.S. based company.”
Johnson urges people to remember that banning DJI would harm those who are benefiting from the technology.
“DJI, if we ban that it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk in the legislation world about banning it. I don’t think that’s the route we should go. I don’t see what information they can pull from it. That would be an immense about of data to pull and store and all they really get from me is my elevation, which they can get on Google Maps.”
Anyone interested in speaking to Johnson about his services can contact him at 507-215-3987 or send him a message on his Facebook page, Prairie Winds Aerial Drones.
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
Jonah Johnson, 25, who farms with his father and brother near Woodstock, started Prairie Aerial Drones after searching for a solution in his own pasture.
“Pastures are hard to reach areas,” he said. “That’s sort of the reason I got my drone. “I couldn’t reach all of the corners, nooks and crannies in my pasture. You can reach anything with a drone.”
Johnson started his business last spring, getting the paperwork rolling to be able to operate a drone in the area. Aside from trying to find a solution for covering his pasture, he recognized the safety concerns with trying to do so on the ground.
”It’s just so dangerous for farmers to go out with their 4-Wheeler and side-by-side and try to spray some of these pastures in southwest Minnesota with the Buffalo Ridge,” he said. “Here you’ve got some large washouts from rivers and stuff, you take a long tumble down a hill.”
While aerial spraying has its challenges such as wind, the benefits are notable, Johnson said. Aside from providing a safer alternative for covering difficult terrain, the aerial drone can ensure better coverage of that rugged terrain.
“It’s a safer route and you get better coverage from it,” he said. “It basically runs off of RTK, which is exactly what auto steers tractors.”
Johnson bought his drone, a DJI P40, over the winter. The equipment can carry a pay load of up to 220 pounds in dry weight and 10.5 gallons in liquid. He started out spraying pastures, but has expanded into fungicide and insecticide application, which has turned out to be his busiest season.
Additionally, he can broadcast seed cover crops, winter wheat, rye and more. The technology continues to evolve, he said, and it will continue to do so to the benefit of producers.
“It’s exciting new technology and we are just at the beginning cusp of it,” he said “I think this is going to be a much bigger thing and it is a lot safer form of application. A lot of the studies I have seen have it placed right below ground application. The only thing holding it back right now is battery capability.”
While covering pasture is naturally a little slower, the drone can cover a notable amount of land in an hour.
“I can probably cover about 30 to 40 acres an hour,” he said. “Pasture slows down because you are going a lot slower to try to keep up with the terrain. The radar system has to be able to keep up with the adjustments of altitude.”
While he plans on building up his fleet, like other aerial drone operators, Johnson is working to navigate changing U.S. laws surrounding Chinese-based equipment.
“There are some laws that are sort of holding us back right now as drone operators,” he said. “The U.S. is leaning more towards United States built drones. DJI is a Chinese-based company. Really the only maps being used are the same you see on Google Maps. They’re phenomenal drones.
The terrain-following is top notch. That’s the problem here in southwest Minnesota. The terrain-following capabilities with the U.S. based drones just don’t follow the terrain as well as DJI does. They’re just light years ahead of any U.S. based company.”
Johnson urges people to remember that banning DJI would harm those who are benefiting from the technology.
“DJI, if we ban that it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk in the legislation world about banning it. I don’t think that’s the route we should go. I don’t see what information they can pull from it. That would be an immense about of data to pull and store and all they really get from me is my elevation, which they can get on Google Maps.”
Anyone interested in speaking to Johnson about his services can contact him at 507-215-3987 or send him a message on his Facebook page, Prairie Winds Aerial Drones.
