The Alberta government is investing in drone technology to help with assessing wildlife damage to crops.
Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson says they’re providing AFSC (Agriculture Financial Services Corporation) with $900,000 to hire drone services and do aerial assessments.
“We heard a lot working with AFSC alongside producers and with the new technology, it really just came down to the fact that deploying drones is a practical cost effective way to assess damage. It increases efficiencies for processing our claims. Really this came down to just speeding up the process and making sure that we’re getting the best way to be able to assess wildlife damage.”
“When it comes to wildlife damage, it can be quite variable and span out over large areas. Drones, being able to travel much quicker, it really gives a better picture of how much damage is being done and it definitely allows us a quicker manner to be able to assess the damage done by wildlife.”
While the focus is on wildlife damage right now, Sigurdson says there is the potential for more usage of drones in the future.
You can listen to the full interview with the minister below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
