Bayer Crop Science: ″Drone Plus″ enables optimization and balance of effectiveness and efficiency of drone application, with a high-standard service leading high-quality industry development

Editor’s note: According to relevant data, by the end of 2023, plant protection UAVs' capacity reached 200,000 units in China. They served an application area of over 2.1 billion mu (140 million Ha), especially with the continued rise in the application to control of rice and wheat pests and diseases. China has become the country with the largest capacity of agriculture drones in the world and the most extensive application area, leading the global aerial application operations in respect of annual operating area, application volume and technical level. 

With the gradual popularization of aerial application, problems are also emerging daily, such as the lack of particular pesticides for aerial application, lack of a sound administration system, lack of effective industry or national standards, lack of professional operator team, and satisfactory social service system. As a critical factor in aerial application,  the aerial application-oriented particular pesticides remain as one of the problems that need to be solved urgently. 

Prime aerial crop protection players have successively upgraded their existing products, or developed new formulations to better match the needs of aerial application scenarios. In addition to making efforts on product and technology, some companies are committed to the whole industrial chain development for aerial application by providing farmers with an integrated ″product + service″ solution.

In light of the existing problems, key players have made suggestions and called for improvement to the administration system as early as possible, wishing to participate in the establishment of effective industry standards or national standards, as well as establishment of a stable and professional pilot organizations. At the same time, the entire industrial chain is required to collaborate closely so as to enable a high-quality development of the aerial crop protection industry.

Recently, AgroPages invited some key players in this field to discuss and analyze the problems and challenges faced by aerial applications, share solutions, practical experiences and forecast the future. These companies include Noposion, Wynca, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, Guangxi Tianyuan and Jiangxi Zhengbang. In this article, Li Ruijiang, Drone Application Manager of Bayer Crop Science China shared his insights.

Li Ruijiang, Drone Application Manager of Bayer Crop Science China

Looking at the Chinese market, can you tell us what Bayer Crop Science has been exploring in the field of drone application and what problems have been encountered in the process of development? 

As China has yet to release product standards for drone application, Bayer China has not launched products dedicated to drone applications. However, our technical and regulatory teams are closely watching the development and implementation of relevant regulations. Meanwhile, we have studied the legal and technical requirements of Japan and other comparable countries for drone application. Considering the latest model of drones and market needs, each year, we carry out more than 30 kinds of drone application-related tests concerning Bayer’s relevant products. Via the early and intense validation, we can achieve early discovery and early promotion to create value and reduce risk in favor of farmers. 

The existing problems are mainly related to adaptation and application, reflected in the following:

• Most of Bayer’s distributors are not capable of serving drone application, which somewhat affects the dissemination and application of Bayer’s exploration achievements. Therefore, Bayer has been actively promoting the ″Drone Plus″ win-win collaboration, utilizing the close collaboration between agricultural input suppliers and professional drone pilots to enhance the external communication and service capacity, effectively solving the problem of insufficient technology dissemination and application.

  
  

• China has more than 200,000 agricultural drone pilots, but most of them run business independently, which is a very decentralized business operation and might result in lower efficiency of quality of service. 

To this end, Bayer has developed an drone application app (including two mini apps - Drone Plus Agricultural Service and Drone Plus Pilot), which utilizes digitalization to achieve fast information exchange while using shared operation data to make drone applications transparent. This app can restrain drone pilots' business conduct, enabling the improvement of the quality of drone applications. 

″Drone Plus″ is a one-stop specialized platform to support drone application operations via integration of local socialized service forces, using digital tools to create the ″product + service win-win drone application ecosystem″ which establishes a more convenient and high-quality drone application service system in favor of farmers, pilots and Bayer’s partners. The platform has three key advantages: 1) Bayer’s products are subjected to rigorous drone application-targeted testing, from laboratory testing up to field testing; 2) Drone pilots selected by ″Drone Plus″ would receive a series of training and are subjected to standardized regulation and supervision through the drone backstage data system; 3) All purchase orders are placed at one click with fast interaction, which realizes dynamic visualization of drone application and documentation of data, being summarized as a ″specialized product + standardized operation + digital tracking″ system achieve optimization and balance of effect and efficiency.

In 2022, Bayer began its ″one-stop drone application program″ in Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Henan, covering cotton, rice, and corn, totaling to about 250,000 mu of cropland. Today, the ″Drone Plus″ has covered many field crop-producing counties in northern China.

Looking at the entire industry chain or drone application ecosystem, what do you think are the issues to be solved urgently to facilitate the industry development towards a new level? What are your expectations and recommendations to government and industry players?

In addition to further clarifying industry regulations for drone application products, the standards and specifications governing drone applications need to be further intensified to regulate the business conduct of drone operators and provide policy support to professional service organizations. Meanwhile, it is necessary to call on responsible enterprises to take the lead in practicing and promoting good service standards, as well as to create several service brands and model service providers. Furthermore, after years of price competition, the younger drone operators quit jobs frequently (agricultural drone pilot was the most attractive job to youngsters in Chinese agriculture in the last 20 years). It is suggested that the relevant government departments take it seriously and advocate for healthy competition so that the industry sector can maintain reasonable prices and profits, encouraging youngsters to return to their hometown to engage in agriculture.

What is Bayer’s development plan in drone applications? Can you predict the future development trend of the drone application industry?

Firstly, Bayer will continue its technical research and development to provide the market with specialized and reliable crop protection products and application technologies. In the meantime, through the development of the ″Drone Plus″ project, Bayer enables distributors to build up drone application capabilities. Through the training of pilots and the expansion of digital applications to improve the quality of drone application, Bayer will prepare a set of Bayer’s drone application operation standard to assume responsibility for farmer’s efficacy of control, drone pilot’s reasonable income and the ecological protection.

Bayer views the crop protection industry as facing rapid development and intensified competition. Effective collaboration and alliances offering high-standard service will win the trust of farmers and attract more newcomers to drone application, leading to the high-quality development of the drone crop protection industry.

This interview was published in AgroPages '2024 Formulation&Adjuvant Technology' magazine. Click the following picture to Read/Download. 

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