UAV Remote Sensing in Berry Crops

In collaboration with USDA-ARS, we participated in a one-year project funded by the Western IPM Center to explore how unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology could support integrated pest management in berry crops.

The project tested whether aerial imagery could be used to identify and map pest-related issues affecting berry production. Early work demonstrated the potential to image and map different pest issues within berry fields, creating preliminary data that could inform further research.

That initial work also identified several directions for continued development, including more precise calibration for pest and disease detection, automated approaches for analyzing imagery and continued testing of emerging sensors, analytical tools and UAV technologies.

The project provided an early look at how remote-sensing tools could contribute another layer of information to pest and disease monitoring in berry production.