Pedro Lucas, CEO of FlyDronAir, in an image provided by the company.
Pedro Lucas (28 years old) does not remember what his first drone was, but he does remember what he felt when flying it.
"I love it.
I thought that it would change us, that we could transport objects, see the world in a different way, improve in health emergencies, against fires… what I did not imagine, I suppose, is that I was going to employ myself and that I would dedicate myself to the field”.
The general director of FlyDronAir responds to EL PAÍS between services, while he moves drones between farms together with the director of operations, David Blanco (30 years old).
They are, together with the marketing director María Martínez (33 years old), FlyDronAir, the company that is part of the StartUPV incubation and acceleration program.
It all started when Lucas and Blanco decided to do “something together”.
They were both passionate about drones and had worked in what, to date, remains the most popular professional field with these devices: audiovisual production.
“But they have a lot of possibilities, so in 2019 we thought about which one was the most interesting.”
Agricultural activities with drones were not even offered in Spain and they, enabled by the State Aviation Safety Agency, found their market niche: "It was evident that, as soon as we knew how to combine free
software
tools and drones with different sensors, we could solve problems.
And we were right, because in a year we were giving the first services”.
FlyDronAir has five employees and offers work to a group of pilots who are specializing in the field.
“At the moment we cover two geographical areas: Galicia and the Valencian Community.
We are giving structure to our specific training and, in fact, we aspire to standardize it in some way because this sector is going to explode at any moment”.
The management of drones and the obtaining of information from free
software
allows them to perform services such as remote detection of pests, aerial treatments and even planting.
They work for between 15 and 20 clients, including farmers with medium and large extensions and administrations to which they offer services ranging from counting units to reforestation.
“For a farmer with more than 10 or 15 hectares, despite what they believe, it is impossible to have total control over the state of the crop.
We can analyze the water stress of a plant, identify pests, anticipate any anomaly…”.
Lucas cites the variety of crops on which they currently work: orange, lemon, persimmon, vineyards, cereals, vegetables and golf courses, where their information for controlling water spending "is a very profitable tool."
They can cover up to 900 hectares in three days, although Spanish legislation considers them "an aerial treatment, despite the fact that we return to two meters from the ground."
They trust in an imminent regulatory change that would consider them ground treatment, as is already the case in Latin America where aircraft weighing up to 60kg can be flown and phytosanitary sprays can be sprayed.
“Currently, we detect in which tree a plague starts or which one has a lack of, for example, nitrogen.
We prevent some clients from losing between 20% and 30% of a harvest.
In addition, we ration any dose of treatment and in the same area we can spray more or less water, foliar fertilizer, biostimulants, etc. "
As if these advantages seem few, these teams can work on the field shortly after it has rained, while the usual machinery cannot step on the ground until it has dried.
These are sufficient reasons to believe that the future of agriculture will be linked to drones.
And this revolution has only begun;
FlyDronAir develops its own algorithm together with the Polytechnic University of Valencia for even more precise detection.
A virtual and immediate control of crops that will increase yields and avoid wasting resources.
Who was going to tell these two
drone
geeks less than 10 years ago.
