Brazil introduces agricultural drones from XAG to plant trees

A forest restoration project using XAG Agricultural Drones has been initiated in Brazil, which is a pioneer in experimenting the scope of planting seeds of native tree species by drone. The trial will help demonstrate the effectiveness of drone to boost forest growth, paving the way for the autonomous technology to be used in large-scale planting of Brazilian forests.

This drone seeding application is part of the Arboreto Project, carried out by the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil’s oldest university, in collaboration with Timber, XAG’s local partner and a supplier of autonomous agricultural machinery. It aims to help speed up the process of forest restoration through planting tree species with commercial interest and environmental adaptation.

During the field experiment, different amounts of seeds were weighed and sorted into the smart container onboard the drone. After the pilot entered all the operation parameters into the mobile APP, such as waypoints, flight speed, and spray volume, the XAG Agricultural Drone with a spreading attachment was planned to run along target lines, evenly distributing seeds from different forest species native to the region.

Compared to planting trees by manual labor, drone with full automation can improve the productivity of the restoration work, especially in terrains that is difficult to access. It is expected that agricultural drone can serve as a cost-effective tool to facilitate the replanting of native trees by governments and companies.

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