Drones can do many things besides deliver iFood orders. These aerial robots are already being used to drop seeds into the ground and quickly replant billions of trees to regenerate forests, informs Fast Company.
The Canadian Flash Forest, for example, is already using drones to reforest, at an accelerated pace, large areas of the country that have been devastated by human action or by fires caused by the effects of climate change. global warming.
To plant trees ten times faster than with the traditional method, the company uses aerial mapping software to identify the best planting locations and, after selecting the appropriate species with the help of scientists and experts, puts the drones into action to plant 100 thousand seeds per day.
Its goal is ambitious: to seed 1 billion trees by 2028. In spring 2021, the company launched 13 replanting projects in Canada; In 2022, it began actions in different provinces to recover areas that were affected by large fires.
“By arriving at these locations early, we are able to stabilize the soil and maximize the use of nutrients available after the fire. Drone reforestation is one of the only means available to do this type of work, as these locations are often inaccessible due to security concerns,” reports one article on the Flash Forest blog.
Brazil: drones in rural areas
In the United States, the agrotech Drone Seed, founded in 2016, also uses technology to mitigate the effects of climate change and restore forests. First, its drones use aerial images and a laser system (LiDAR) to identify areas that need to be replanted. Then, the team analyzes soil quality, water runoff and sun exposure to determine which species should be sown.
Only then do the drones take flight over the programmed area and launch the seeds, which are accommodated in a fiber receptacle that acts as a germination substrate and can contain fertilizers and other additives, such as natural pest repellents. In 2021, the company planted half a million seeds in the region of British Columbia, Canada, to accelerate the regeneration of native forests devastated in a fire in 2017.
Will this new feature reach Brazil? According to Fast Company, the use of drones is growing in rural areas, generally to map cultivation areas and legal reserves and collect details that improve agricultural productivity with low environmental impact. “These are systems that can be added to the vegetation replanting process using drones”, points out the publication.
