This project aims to begin addressing the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association’s priority to help growers evaluate AgTech on their operations by first incorporating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the breeding program to estimate maturity. Not only will UAVs increase the speed and accuracy of data collection and accelerate variety release to meet the changing needs of growers, the best practices for UAV-based maturity estimates determined from this study can form the basis for growers looking to replace more traditional scouting on their operations for harvest aid (desiccant) application. Harvest aids are often used to remove any remaining green tissue to increase harvest efficiency and maintain seed quality. As the demand for early maturing varieties increases in North Carolina, one of the biggest challenges facing growers is timely harvest needed to prevent a decline in seed quality. However, application timing, based on maturity, is key to prevent crop damage and yield loss, and UAV-based maturity scouting could help address this issue. In this proposal we will determine if using a UAV can accurately estimate maturity by beginning on a research plot level to determine how well UAV-based maturity estimates compare to ground ratings. Furthermore, the most cost-effective camera and processing pipeline will be determined so that future grower equipment and software investment will be well-informed. Using the best practices developed, the project will scale to mid-sized research fields for additional evaluation and validation. The funding will be used to purchase UAV imagery processing software as well as to fund a graduate student that will lead the project. Overall, this research will determine whether UAVs can accurately estimate maturity and the best practices for doing so, both of which lay the groundwork for growers to use them on their own operations to assist in maturity scouting to aid their desiccant application decisions that protect seed quality and profits.

1. Assess the accuracy between ground measurements and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) estimates for soybean maturity.
2. Optimize UAV-based maturity estimates in terms of cost, time, and ease to ensure applicability for future grower use in maturity scouting.

This proposal begins to address the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association’s priority to help growers evaluate AgTech on their operations while not overlapping with the objectives of a UAV proposal the NCSPA previously funded. We expect to present this research at the Tri-Societies (American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America) National Conference. NCSPA will be recognized with its logo as a sponsor of the research. During any field days or grower visits we participate in, they will be made aware this research is sponsored by the NCSPA. Furthermore, the UAV used will have an NCSPA decal attached, if available. The results of this research will be summarized in an extension bulletin directed at growers as well as in a scientific journal publication, and the NCSPA will be acknowledged as a source of funding for both publications.

As some North Carolina soybean growers shift to early maturing varieties to take advantage of potentially early market premiums, several issues have emerged with the management of these varieties. Harvest timing is one of the most important management decisions to ensure the best seed quality when growing early maturing soybeans. One solution growers have implemented is the use of desiccants to dry down plants and decrease waiting time before harvest. However, applying a desiccant is an added expense, and timing is critical. Traditional scouting may be able to determine maturity, but UAVs offer the potential to more effectively do so across hundreds of acres. Before successfully implementing this on the scale of a grower’s operation, research is needed to understand how to best and most cost-effectively determine maturity with UAVs. This includes evaluating the trade-off with height and image resolution and whether a standard camera growers would most likely have is sufficient, or if a more expensive multispectral camera is needed. Supporting this research will help develop best practices for determining maturity using UAVs. In the future, these practices can help replace the scouting that growers do to inform their desiccant application to protect seed quality, which is an issue that nearly promises to continue if not increase in the future with the unpredictable weather that continues to affect North Carolina, as well as increased grower interest in planting early maturing varieties.