Using Skippy Scout for Pesticide guidance

Skippy Scout can provide fast accurate field overviews that show where weed patches are within the field, and then ground truthed by automated close-up image capture from the drone, allowing a taregtted application instead of field-wide. Captured fast and automatically regardless of cloud cover, and delivered within minutes, applications can be done immediately.

Savings: up to £44/ha. View the case study

If you farm more than 100 ha of OSR, it is most likely Skippy Scout will save you money with this use case alone (and there are many more). Plus save time field walking and cover more ground!

Potentially claim £43/ha under SFI also!

How to:

First, get a drone and sign up to Skippy Scout
Once you have a drone, setup will take about 20 minutes, we’ll setup a call to guide you through!

1. Add your field in Skippy Scout

Takes about 5 minutes. See our basic how to, or contact us.
This will also tell you the basics of adding Scout Points, making a Flight and viewing the results.

2. Capture a Scout Sphere

We’ll assume you know how to start a flight, its automated and if you have internet in the field, you’ll get results in minutes after the flight. Be sure to capture a Scout Sphere only.

3. View the Scout Sphere online

Best viewed on a large screen - iPad or computer screen!

Looking at the field (you can zoom), ID the areas of potential weed patches.
Right-click to add a scout point or two on each of them.

https://vimeo.com/842793537/2f6e0e9f01

4. Do a scouting flight

We’ll assume you know how to start a flight, its automated and if you have internet in the field, you’ll get results in minutes after the flight. Be sure to do a scouting flight only.

It will capture close-up images of those points so you can ground truth the potential weed patches.

5. View the updated Scout Sphere

You’ll get an email telling you your Scout Sphere has been updated with the new imagery.
Load it up and take a look - click on the Scout Points to view high resolution imagery for each point. Zoom in, use them to ground truth and ID weeds in each area.

Scout Image: Black grass weeds in OSR

Skippy Image Analysis: Blackgrass weeds

Use the top-down field view (click/tap the down arrow on the bottom nav bar) to decide where spraying is needed. Then you have a few options:

Manually spray

Print the map, or load it up on your tablet.

Then use it as a guide when spraying the field.

Soon, your map will appear in the Skippy Scout app, you will be able to load it is a field layer to guide spraying, while seeing your current GPS location.

Use you FMS to target spray

On you computer, load up your farm management platform (or whatever you use the plan spray applications).

Open it as a new browser tab side-by-side with your Sphere map.

Use it as a guide to plan your spray area in your FMS.

Export an VRA file

Soon, you’ll be able to select the areas to spray right inside your Scout Sphere.

Then you’ll be able to export them as ISOXML or Shapefiles so you can use them directly in your sprayer.

6. Verify the spray has been effective

Once the weeds have had time to die-off, re-visit the field and capture a full Sphere + Scout flight.

The drone will re-visit the same ground truth points, as well as capturing an updated whole field overview.

View the updated data and verify the weeds have died off as expected.

Perhaps a second spray is needed - repeat the process above!

Also these can be kept from spray records, with timestamped, gps located imagery providing proof for reason to spray and effectiveness.