The Agricultural Drones Market is set to grow from its current market value of more than $300 million to over $1 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.
Growing awareness regarding UAV implementation benefits among farmers will support the agricultural drones market share from 2017 to 2024. Increasing technological advancements to enhance quality farming techniques will further drive the industry demand over the forecast timeline. Increasing automation due to lack of skilled resources and labor crisis will fuel the industry. Favorable government initiatives across the agricultural sector will allow large and small operations to aid in effective farming practices.
The agricultural drones market is emerging as a profitable industry under the commercial sector. These products assist farmers in providing soil and crop data by taking pictures for assisting in crop management and adding components such as navigation system, GPS, and GIS benefit UAVs for improved maneuvering.
UVAs incorporated with infrared, hyperspectral, and multispectral cameras provide the required vision to the farmers, thus shielding the crops and farm. These images provide the necessary data and support the decision-making process. Images captured by multispectral cameras serve as an effective tool for plant health and soil evaluation analysis. Identification of weeds, pests, pesticide usage optimization, determining spacing issues, visual inspection of crops and fence are among the major benefits.
UAV LiDAR and photogrammetry imaging applications are potential opportunities for the agricultural drones market size. UAVs mounted with lidar drones in community projects will help in providing aerial view and building topographic maps.
Stringent government regulations and patents involved with advanced technologies will hamper the agricultural drones market size from 2017 to 2024. The products are required to avoid emergency conditions or accidents in the farms. Thus, lack of trained pilots and safety concerns associated with these devices are major challenges for the industry. Universities and technical institutes are establishing various programs to provide guidelines for operating UAVs.
The fixed wing agricultural drones market share accounted for about 70% of the revenue in 2016. The segment will dominate the industry over the forecast timeframe owing to the ability to carry heavy payloads and cover long distances. Imaging software plays a key role in processing images captured by cameras mounted on UAVs, which will fuel software revenue in the coming years.
The crop scouting applications are forecast to have significant growth prospects owing to utilization in reducing the fertilizer and pesticide wastage, further increasing the crop yields.
Favorable government initiatives in the agricultural sector is expected to be the key growth factors in the Europe agricultural drones market size. Venture capitalists are investing in unmanned aerial vehicle startups which will yield significant return to the investors. Companies such as Syngenta, Mitsui and Monsanto backed startups for improving crop spraying, harvesting and irrigation. DJI elevated USD 75 million during its first drone launch for the agricultural space.
Companies operating in the agricultural drones market include AeroVironment, Trimble Navigation Ltd., DJI Technology, PrecisionHawk, 3D Robotics, and Parrot SA. Industry participants are focusing on strategic acquisitions in order to consolidate share and expand regional and global presence.
