Huron County Soil and Crop Cover Crop Planting Demo Day
Updated on October 23, 2024
On September 20, 2024, Huron Soil and Crop hosted a cover crop seeding demonstration at the Huronview Demonstration Farm featuring both drones and a RoGator. The event followed two weeks of warm weather, providing optimum conditions for the demonstration. Around 40 attendees gathered, showing great interest in especially the drone demonstrations.
The day began with a welcome from Huron Soil and Crop President Wim Feddes, followed by an overview of available programs and the benefits of using cover crops. After outlining the current trial and the demonstration farm setup, operators introduced the equipment.
On September 20, 2024, Huron Soil and Crop hosted a cover crop seeding demonstration at the Huronview Demonstration Farm featuring both drones and a RoGator. The event followed two weeks of warm weather, providing optimum conditions for the demonstration. Around 40 attendees gathered, showing great interest in especially the drone demonstrations.
The day began with a welcome from Huron Soil and Crop President Wim Feddes, followed by an overview of available programs and the benefits of using cover crops. After outlining the current trial and the demonstration farm setup, operators introduced the equipment.
Brian VanSteedlandt from Drone Spray Canada and Felix Weber from Ag Business and Crop Inc. led the drone demonstrations, providing insights into drone operations, battery life, and seeding capacity. Anyone interested in using drones for seeding should be aware that drone can differ considerably, but the information shared on the day provides a good overview of what to expect.
- Drones are equipped with multiple batteries that rotate between charging and flight. A fully loaded drone can fly for around 8 minutes, with an empty flight lasting up to 20 minutes. Battery charging typically takes about 14 minutes.
- Tank capacities vary, with most drones holding between 40L and 60L – these tanks are sufficient to allow seeding of oats into standing soybeans at a rate of 50lbs/acre.
- While there’s no weight limit at this point, regulatory changes are proposed for 2025 where drones with a load of more than 150kg would require a permit to operate.
- Drones are usually recommended for smaller fields, but they can be used in larger fields of up to 100 acres.
The flying height doesn’t significantly affect spread, as gravity has more of an impact. However, high wind conditions cause seed drift and changes in the spray pattern, with heavy seeds such as beans being less affected than light seeds such as clover. While drones remain stable in winds up to 30km/h, the recommended conditions are at wind speeds below 16km/h.
The drones also need to be loaded frequently, so efficiency is key when it comes to seeding. Each drone is programmed to fly along lines seeding both away from and returning to the operator, to minimize flight time. Automated flight paths, guided by real-time kinematic (RTK) boundary maps, make drone operation straightforward – it is important to have a good RTK boundary map with hard boundaries established away from obstacles such as trees. Maps should be updated annually to account for changes in vegetation and field boundaries. Setting a boundary map can be done by using Google Earth, walking the field with a GPS or flying the drone and marking any changes on an existing map.
Although drones are typically suited for smaller fields, they can handle areas up to 100 acres. However, the time to seed larger fields is longer compared to traditional equipment. For example, the RoGator completed a 22-acre field in about 20 minutes, while the drones took around two hours to seed an 18-acre field. Despite the slower pace, drones offer the advantage of minimizing crop damage and soil compaction, unlike land-based machines.
It should be noted that the weather played a large part in getting the optimal conditions for this seeding event and subsequent germination of the oats. Harvesting took place about a week after seeding, and germination was first recorded nine days after seeding and following light rain. Managing the timing of seeding cover crops in this way can thus be tricky, but this project aims to investigate various options for use under different conditions.
This trial forms part of a larger Grassroots Research study in Huron County. Other cover crop seeding methods not demonstrated at this event but forming part of the research project include seeding by drill as well as under a combine head. Check out our research post for more details and for the results of comparison between the RoGator and drones after the 2025 season.
The drones also need to be loaded frequently, so efficiency is key when it comes to seeding. Each drone is programmed to fly along lines seeding both away from and returning to the operator, to minimize flight time. Automated flight paths, guided by real-time kinematic (RTK) boundary maps, make drone operation straightforward – it is important to have a good RTK boundary map with hard boundaries established away from obstacles such as trees. Maps should be updated annually to account for changes in vegetation and field boundaries. Setting a boundary map can be done by using Google Earth, walking the field with a GPS or flying the drone and marking any changes on an existing map.
Although drones are typically suited for smaller fields, they can handle areas up to 100 acres. However, the time to seed larger fields is longer compared to traditional equipment. For example, the RoGator completed a 22-acre field in about 20 minutes, while the drones took around two hours to seed an 18-acre field. Despite the slower pace, drones offer the advantage of minimizing crop damage and soil compaction, unlike land-based machines.
It should be noted that the weather played a large part in getting the optimal conditions for this seeding event and subsequent germination of the oats. Harvesting took place about a week after seeding, and germination was first recorded nine days after seeding and following light rain. Managing the timing of seeding cover crops in this way can thus be tricky, but this project aims to investigate various options for use under different conditions.
This trial forms part of a larger Grassroots Research study in Huron County. Other cover crop seeding methods not demonstrated at this event but forming part of the research project include seeding by drill as well as under a combine head. Check out our research post for more details and for the results of comparison between the RoGator and drones after the 2025 season.
