Growing up on a Bucca cattle farm, Jamin Fleming’s no stranger to the agriculture industry but he’s bringing innovation to the field with his Oztech Drones spraying technology.
He's currently involved in an ag tech trial on a Hummock Road macadamia farm that's bringing together the expertise of many local businesses.
The 26-year-old launched the business last year and it wasn’t long before it really took off, becoming a full-time job.
“When we started it was just to help out but now it’s become a real business opportunity,” Jamin said.
“We do different spray applications in hard to reach areas, wet areas, just areas that they don't want to damage their crop.
“Everything's automated so that it makes it more accurate so that we know exactly how much chemical we're putting on.
“So we can reduce the chemical rate and also we're not spreading any chemical where it doesn't need to go.”
Oztech Drones is one of the only operators in the state offering agricultural drone spraying and Jamin said they’ll soon be one of the first in Queensland to launch swarm operations.
“You can fly five drones at once, so cover a lot more area with that as well.”
He’s already contracted with farms throughout Queensland assisting with crops ranging from corns, sweet potatoes and orchards.
His drone has a seeder on board which can even help farmers sow their crops from the air.
The Oztech Drones technology offers time and cost efficiencies, identifying problem areas with pinpoint accuracy for specific treatments.
“It's all automated, we plan, we map out the area, find where the field is, and all the affected areas that we need to spray.
“Then the drone just goes and sprays those areas.
“All we do is just mark it on the on the map that we've already taken on the app, and then the drone just goes out and sprays that tree.
“If it's you know, 10 hectares or 100 hectares that we want treated in that area, we can spray all that.”
He said the use of Oztech Drones was also beneficial for the treatment of diseased areas where ground rigs may spread the disease during treatment.
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