February 27, 2017 | Washington Farm Bureau Many farmers and ranchers are already benefitting from drone technology, but the work of researchers like Dr. Lav Khot is showing that we’ve only scratched the surface of what this relatively new technology can do for agriculture. Khot works for Washington State University’s Center for Precision and Automated […]
Fall 2016 | Washington Business Magazine, by Richard S. Davis Advanced technology has contributed to tremendous growth in production since the middle of the 20th century, while farmers have been able to reduce inputs, including labor, chemicals, and energy. The agricultural and food industry accounts for 13 percent of Washington State’s economy. Biotech, “flying tractors”, designer orchards, and […]
August 12, 2015 | by Jeffrey Dennison, WSU Tri-Cities PROSSER, Wash. — Washington State University and a private company are testing an unmanned helicopter to blow rainwater off cherries on trees. The 11-foot-long, 141-pound Yamaha RMAX aircraft has been used in to spray rice crops in Japan since 1997. Some 2,500 operate there now. WSU […]
August 11, 2015 | by Jeffrey Dennison, WSU Tri-Cities PROSSER, Wash. – Washington State University is partnering with Digital Harvest Corp. to test an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could provide a safer, less expensive means to blow rainwater off cherry orchards to avoid fruit losses. Rain can cause splits in the skin of cherries […]
by Steven Garrity on June 15, 2015 In July of 2013, Dr. Lav Khot and his team were in the field looking at how cherries were picked, weighed, and transported, when suddenly a helicopter began circling around a nearby orchard block. When Dr. Khot asked the grower about it he said, “There was a rain last […]
Washington State Magazine | by Nichoas Deshais A slight breeze comes from the north, but it’s not enough to stir the sun-faded windsock above the tarmac near Mann Lake in Lewiston, Idaho. The sudden and unexpected gusts of wind, however, do. It’s a brisk 48 degrees, but of more concern is the smeared cloud taking up […]