How drones are revolutionising pest and disease detection in agriculture

Drones are reshaping modern crop protection by giving farmers a powerful new vantage point: the sky. With advanced sensors, high-resolution imaging, and artificial intelligence-driven analytics, these unmanned aerial vehicles can detect early signs of disease, water stress, and pest damage long before the human eye can. Jedrie Harmse spoke to agricultural drone specialist Monique Heydenrych.

- Jedrie Harmse

Agriculture is undergoing a quiet yet rapid revolution, not in the field or the orchard but in the sky. For generations, farmers have relied on manual scouting – walking rows, checking leaves, and trusting gut instinct – to monitor crop health. However, manual scouting is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to human error, often identifying problems only after they have spread significantly.

Today, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, offer an initiative-taking solution. By capturing high-resolution data from above, drones reveal the invisible, allowing growers to detect early signs of stress, optimise inputs, and secure yields.

Monique Heydenrych, agricultural specialist and head of sales at Drone Solutions International, shares her knowledge on the operational landscape of drone-based pest and disease detection, examining the hardware, sensors, detectability of specific threats, and the practicalities of interpreting the data.

THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB: DRONE TYPES

“Selecting the correct drone is the first step in successful aerial surveying. The choice depends on the terrain, the crop type, and the scale of the operation,” she says.

She explains that there are three primary categories of drones currently dominating the agriculture sector:

Multi-rotor drones: these are the workhorses of precision agriculture and include quadcopters and hexacopters.

Known for their manoeuvrability and ability to hover, they are ideal for smaller blocks, complex orchard terrain, and detailed inspections.

Their vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability allows them to operate in confined spaces without the need for a runway. And because they can maintain consistent altitude and speed, they are crucial for accurate data collection in high-value crops like macadamias and citrus.