Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

Target Pests

Practices

The Snake River Valley of western Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon, is a premier onion-producing region. However, the large volume of onion fields planted in close proximity to one another creates significant pest-management challenges. Onion thrips are the primary insect pest of concern identified by stakeholders, and managing this pest often requires multiple costly insecticide applications throughout the growing season. These intensive management practices also increase the importance of effective resistance-management strategies and consideration of improved application technologies, including the use of drones for spraying. Technologies capable of treating localized pest infestations could reduce preemptive, whole-field insecticide applications. Developing and evaluating these approaches has the potential to improve pesticide stewardship, reduce production costs, and support more sustainable onion production in the region. However, utilization of new spraying technology such as drone systems requires careful evaluation.  There is a strong need to develop decision support systems for growers to evaluate the short and long run economic consequences of owning and using drones in onion production systems.

This project will evaluate short-term operational tradeoffs, long-term capital budgeting and depreciation, and investment performance metrics, including net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). This project will also determine the payback period required to recover the initial investment, as well as the acreage and number of spray applications needed to reach the break-even point for drone ownership. These metrics will provide baseline information for comparing the costs of owning a spray drone with alternative application strategies, including hiring custom drone application services, hiring custom aerial application services, and using existing ground application equipment with operator-supplied labor. The overall goal is to improve understanding of the financial implications and economic feasibility of drone ownership for pesticide application. Addressing these knowledge gaps will strengthen decision-support tools available to growers, help identify priorities for future research, and support the development and adoption of practical, economically viable integrated pest management (IPM) strategies.

The overall goal of this project is to develop decision support systems for growers to evaluate the short and long run economic consequences of owning and using drones in onion production systems.

Objective 1: Provide a framework to quantify the short-term operational tradeoffs of drones using a partial budget. Provide a template to isolate estimated cost reductions, evaluate estimated yield improvements, and quantify additional costs such drone battery degradation, FAA certification and aerial applicator certification.

Objective 2: Provide a framework to quantify the long-term economic consequences of investment in drone technology by developing a capital budget and depreciation schedule.

Objective 3. Combine expected short term operational tradeoffs with the capital budget and depreciation schedule to evaluate the NPV, IRR, and the payback period associated with drone ownership.

Objective 4: Conduct a breakeven analysis to determine the planted onion acreage and number of spray applications at which drone ownership becomes profitable.

Objective 5: Compare the cost of drone ownership with custom application rates for drone spraying, boom spraying, and other areal applications (plane and helicopter).

Objective 6: Conduct sensitivity analyses to evaluate the impact of changes in inputs such as labor costs, pesticide pricing, fuel, drone battery costs, and planted onion acreage on economic outcomes.