By Scout Nelson
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring announces a $300,000 grant to support a new drone-based weed detection project. The program aims to improve early detection of noxious weeds in soybean and sugar beet fields during the 2025 and 2026 growing seasons.
The project focuses on five counties and will specifically target amaranth species, including the fast-spreading weed known as waterhemp. These weeds can cause serious problems for crop health and yields if not controlled early.
Leading the project is a team from the Grand Farm Research and Education Initiative, joined by Thales, iSight Drone Services, and North Dakota State University. Together, they plan to use advanced drone imaging to build a strong library of images that can help identify and tell the difference between various amaranth species.
The drone flights will be carefully planned in coordination with the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, local county weed officers, and landowners. Any locations where weeds are found will be kept confidential and only reported at the county level to protect farmers’ privacy.
The goal is to give weed control officials faster tools and better information so they can stop new weed infestations before they spread. By building this image library, the team hopes to make weed detection faster and more accurate in the future.
Photo Credit: istock-psisa
Categories: North Dakota, Crops, Soybeans, Government & Policy