Agriculture Drones Market

Market Overview

The global agriculture drones market size is anticipated to attain a significant CAGR of 24.35% during the forecast period.

Agriculture drones are used for field operations such as farm area surveillance, field mapping activities, plant stress detection, biomass, field nutrient estimation, weed management, counting, and chemical spraying. The precise and schematic representation of the data collection, high Return on Investment (ROI)of these products, and the ability to replace the conventional method of operations with automated techniques with better work quality and lower operational cost can be termed primary driving factors for agriculture drones market.

Increased tendency towards organic farming, development of hybrid species of plants and trees, and the need of replacing the current farming operations by environment sustaining and water conservation-oriented techniques can influence the market growth and create a significant influx of customers towards the market

Agriculture drones' global market size is estimated to reach a value of USD1.09 billion by the end of 2019. The market growth can sustain a considerable decrement in the first two years of the growth projections. The disruption in the market supply chain and substantial decrement in the manufacturing of electronic goods also limit market growth. The current halt in import-export operations between multiple prominent countries to curtail market growth by a certain extent. COVID-19 outbreak is expected to influence the first two years of market growth projections, restricting its overall growth.

Market Dynamics

A Continuous Decrement in the Farmland Coupled by Higher Demand for Food Products Has Emphasized the Need for Better Crop Yield

Over the recent past, there has been a severe decrement in the in-use farmland. According to the current statistics released by the U.S. government, the U.S. has recorded a record 7% shrunk in the farmland, which is used for farming operations, thus reducing the region's product output. Although, due to the population explosion, the need for food products is increasing exponentially. The farmers and food product suppliers need to strategically develop an action plan to increase the current per hectare production scenario to mitigate the losses incurred due to the lesser available land area and meet the production requirements. The aerial drones help the farmers increase their production, provide surveillance, and identify any problems to rectify the problem and address the situation—this ability of agriculture drones to promote a healthy picture for the market.

For instance, in 2019, an organization specialized in operating technology-based solutions to operators in the agriculture sector named Corteva Agriscience has exhaustively invested in developing its agriculture drone fleet to substantially increase seeds' ability to yield with providing optimum output. The company has finalized its collaborations, DroneDeploy's advanced mapping software company, enabling the company to develop 400 drones deployed worldwide.

The Ability to Tackle Crop Quality and Quantity Concerns by Using Agricultural Drones Is Expected to Fortify Growth Opportunities

Agriculture drones provide the ability to address more complex concerns to improve the per hectare yield of the farmland. The most common and prominent problems that need to be dealt with strategically are herbicide-resistant weeds, climate change, uncertain commodity prices, soil quality and erosion, increasing input prices, water quality, and water quantity. High-tech drones provide the lay of the land precisely, helping the crop consultant and farmland owners assess the field's condition and strategically design any action plan at an early stage to get maximum output.

Drone technology for agriculture purposes is becoming affordable for farm owners and crop consultants. The lower initial investment and development in the technological front are also increasing its return on investment. The use of drones to maintain proper surveillance on the field also enables the farm owner to protect high-value crops in the farm, vulnerable to diseases. The products such as almonds, citrus, and bananas prone to getting infections can be covered using agricultural drones, making it a value for money investment for the agriculture drone manufacturers.

Thus, the development of products for various applications, an increasing amount of automation to replace the conventional method, and the need to tackle more complex problems effectively yield better productivity to open new growth horizons for the agriculture drones market over the forecast period 2020-2027.

Regional Analysis

The Asia-Pacific market is estimated to emerge as the fastest-growing region in terms of sales of agriculture drones. The intense pace of the market growth is characterized by farming techniques modernization in the region and many farmers operating in the region—a country like India, which observes farming as a professional professed by most of the population. The emergence of manufacturers in countries such as Japan and China cemented these countries' growth and region. The government in these aforementioned countries is expected to support the implementation and provide drone technology at a comparatively lower cost to encourage millions of customers to adopt the technologies and create efficient, productive, and healthy farms.

The North American market is expected to hold a significant revenue share in the global market. Increased awareness about technology integration in the agriculture sector, record decrement in the available land for farming operations, and substantial presence of international market operators in the region are expected to emerge as the factor to contribute to the traction towards the agriculture drone market. As per the market estimates by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) report, which is an organization tracking the use of drones and UAVs in different sectors,the U.S. is set to account for the consumption of 160,000 units by 2025.

The staggering market estimation creates an optimistic scenario for developing the aerial drone markets in the region. The report further states that the number is estimated by considering the conservative approach of the current farmland operators while incrementing in awareness, mouth publicity factor, support by governmental authorities to implement automation technique for better production to substantiate hold of the region on the market as a leader through the years of forecast

Segmental Analysis

The field mapping segment is estimated to account for a considerable share in the global market. Mapping and monitoring the plantation area and using remote sensing to generate productive output can be valuable insights from which farmers can decide the future course of action. The field mapping surveys serve various small farm improvement surveys to understand the nature and habitat of the vast range of farmland and inspect the soil homogeneity to get a clearer perspective of land quality and ability.

The development of agriculture drones with preinstalled different photogrammetric software packages and robust image sensing and analysis by dereferenced using ground control points (GCPs) has increased the performance ability and spectrum of the application of the drone