In 1987, Yamaha produced the first 20kg spraying drone “R-50”. After that, Japan widely used unmanned helicopters for field crops. But they don’t want to sell the device to other countries.
At that time, there were self-assembled agricultural drones on the market, but they were not only expensive, but also prone to problems. To be more direct, their operability was not quite as good. This “no drone available” situation lasted until November 2015 – DJI entered the market. DJI has brought technology, experience and a mature service system, which to some extent has gradually pushed the industry towards formalization.
Since 2015, DJI’s agricultural drone hardware and applications have developed rapidly, and market ownership and operating area have grown rapidly. From the MG series to the T16, T20, T10, T30, and T40 series, DJI Agriculture has completed the entire line of product upgrades, integrated intelligent configuration, cloud platform, and equipment service system integration.
What is even more popular among the agricultural community is the “smart agriculture” solution that DJI has built since 2019. It can be understood as the agricultural version of the “metaverse”, which is built through the combined use of AI, Internet, intelligent system and other black technologies. Since then, a new agricultural system linked by digital technology.
In this system, from digitalization and intelligence of the entire process to reducing management costs and improving agricultural efficiency.
At present, this platform has formed a “small closed loop” of “data collection – analysis and decision-making – efficient execution”, and this “small closed loop” can be embedded into the “large closed loop” of smart agriculture to provide farmers with systematic Smart agriculture solutions.
Early drones were expensive, and DJI stated that drones are not the exclusive preserve of a few large farms. They are committed to making high-quality spraying drones affordable to ordinary farmers. Great efforts have been made in terms of product technology and ease of use. The hard work of thousands of developers and engernieers is behind this easy-to-use and safe device.
Compared with ground machinery, agricultural drones have the advantages of high efficiency and strong terrain adaptability. The application of drones has effectively filled the shortcomings and gaps in the application of traditional ground agricultural machinery, and is of great significance to improving the mechanization of weak points in agriculture. In addition, compared with ground machinery, drones have better intelligent software and hardware systems, which are also an important support for the continued promotion of digital agriculture in the future.
The prosperity of the industry also depends on the establishment of an ecosystem, and professional drone pilot training and pre-sales and after-sales service systems are critical. In order to ensure that customers can understand the operating principles of drones and know how to self-predict some risks and failures, DJI established the DJI Academy as an important guarantee for the safety of farmers flying drones.
For example, in terms of agent training, DJI Academy has carried out pre-sales training, after-sales training, instructor training, special training and other trainings to help them quickly understand the characteristics of new products, improve actual maintenance and three-guarantee service capabilities, and promote the conversion of potential users, achieved results such as sharing successful cases with other dealers.
Regarding future market trends, judging from the needs of our customers in the Canadian market in the past few years, as agricultural pests and diseases intensify and farmers’ costs continue to increase, agriculture drone products are becoming more and more widespread, and agricultural producers and operators are paying more attention to crop protection.
The demand for drones will continue to grow.