Through a grant from YCCF’s Agriculture and Land Preservation Fund, local farmers can now use drone imaging to have a bird’s-eye view of their fields to maximize yield while pinpointing where fertilizer and pesticide treatments are needed most.
Contemporary farming techniques, including chemicals and fertilization, have exponentially increased farmers’ yield per acre. However, over-using these treatments is costly to farmers, and increases byproducts that find their way into York area water sources. With the YCCF grant, engineering students from York College used a drone to collect video data about nutrients, weeds, and pests. In 2018, the students analyzed that data to identify for farmers where to focus their field treatments, reducing over-application of chemicals while maintaining the benefits, ultimately saving farmers money and time.
Donors to YCCF understand the importance of York’s agricultural heritage to both our past and our future. To preserve farming in York County, YCCF grants provide technical assistance like the grant to York College to help farmers comply with conservation regulations, scholarships to those in our farming community to gain the latest skills, and have helped preserve hundreds of acres of farmland in York County.
