Unmanned drones and potato spacing

Potato is considered as one of the most important food source and 18.6 million ha area was dedicated for potato cultivation globally. In 2016, world production of potatoes was 377 million tonnes including China, India, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Per capita potato production is still the highest in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe) but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades was observed in Asia pacific including Australia.

In Australia, the importance of potato is significant in terms of both commercial and domestic use purposes, with a farm gate value of $54 million in 2016. Available literature indicates that plant spacing uniformity may affect potato yield globally. Though technology advances potato production in many countries, however there is a lack of technology which is capable to measure spacing uniformity at planting stage, and later its impact on actual potato yield. Over a farm (either small or large scale), growers are facing challenges to follow a standard method that helps to measure uniformity at planting stage over the past. Spacing uniformity effects on yield needs to be assessed for better management.

In general, plant growth is considered as a good sign of profitable harvest. However, there is no techniques currently available to monitor potato spacing as well as plant growth during the growing season. Precision agriculture has made a good progress on grain industry, however it has little or no implication in understating horticulture, particularly its application for tuber type vegetable, like potato.