Unarmed drones on the central coast have potential to revolutionize ag industry

Unarmed drones have the potential to revolutionize the local agriculture industry, experts tell NewsChannel 5.

Reporter Jake Reiner met with John Ivey in Greenfield Tuesday to find out more about how this new technology is literally taking off.

Ivey is making drones his business.

“The more they get used, the more ideas you are going to have –kind of like when computers came out–some people thought well what am I going to use this for, now we don’t live without them,” he said.

Drones can be used to get a bird’s eye view of crops — a major advantage for busy farmers who don’t have time or ability to inspect every row and field with close scrutiny from the ground level. That’s where the drones come in.

Jeff Hitchcock, vice president of Boggiato Produce, said that on the company’s 10 acres, there are 30,000 heads of lettuce per acre.

Using drones allows the company a better opportunity to look at the field from above and see if there are any issues with it, he said.

They’re mainly using the drone for marketing, however, to demonstrate the harvesting process to customers.

“Most consumers don’t have a clue where produce comes from,” he said.

Ivey said that with drone technology, the possibilities are endless.

Drones aren’t without their detractors, however.

Some critics worry about potential privacy concerns that could come with the the technology’s use.

Ivey, however, said many of those fears are unwarranted — the drones he uses aren’t made for surveillance. They don’t have the battery life that would require.

A federal judge earlier this year ruled that a ban by the Federal Aviation Administration on commercial drone use wasn’t actually federal law.