Crop consultant and farmer Marc Burggraff found an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for $1,500 that can fly GPS patterns with his son’s GoPro camera. It is the DJI Phantom 2 Vision, with GPS and iPad control. The Flandreau, S.D., crop consultant didn’t want to spend $20,000-$30,000 for typical commercial ag-oriented UAV models to scout his fields and learn more about the new technology.

Here’s some of his UAV footage:

The action begins at 37 seconds.

“We’ll experiment it with it to detect crop stressors like compaction, disease, and possibly insect damage just on our own fields,” he says.

Burggraff enjoys experimenting with farm technology to strengthen his agronomic productivity and bottom line.

I knew that this UAV technology is mainstream when I saw a photo on my teenage cousin’s Facebook page.

Farmer David Herr, Kendallville, Ind., used UAV technology to capture the get-er-done feel of his speedy spring planting, complete with music using a GoPro camera and DJI Phantom 2. The action begins at 38 seconds.

UAV technology also came in handy in Adams County, Ill., above a grain bin fire.

And, Tom Roberts mounted a GoPro remote camera without UAV tie-in to document farm operations.