Flying into a niche: Farmers still looking for that perfect use for ag drones

PASCO — According to Lav Khot, an agricultural drone is just another piece of farm machinery. “A drone is nothing but a tractor,” Khot said. “It’s really a platform that you can attach anything to.” It’s a hot Friday morning in a cherry orchard just north of Pasco, and Khot, the director of Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet and specialist in precision agriculture, is standing with several dozen interested farmers and a handful of business owners showing off drones of various sizes and capabilities. The event was billed as Spring Drone Day, organized and sponsored by WSU Extension, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, and AgAID Institute, an agricultural technology research initiative based at WSU but involving a number of businesses and universities from across the United States, including Oregon State University, the University of Virginia, Kansas State University, IBM and Walla Walla-based agricultural systems company Innov8.ag.