'Fun' with Outfield 2024

 My second year working with Oli Hilbourne and Jim McDougall from Outfield using my DJI Air 2S UAV (drone) to do blossom density, fruit variability, and – although not officially sanctioned – yield estimate ‘heat’ maps. (See my 2023 Outfield post.) My intent here is to just highlight some of my observations using this particular PACMAN (Precision Apple Cropload MANagement) tool in 2024. Although, I did have a specific applied research objective too, that is/was to compare the Outfield product to Vivid-Machines results, who I also worked with in 2024, but that will be a separate post.

So, regarding Outfield:

• I/we actually mapped a total of thirteen different apple blocks across five orchards in three different states (MA, NJ, and NY). Wow. Not all orchard blocks were mapped for all three Outfield products – blossom density, fruit variability, and yield estimates – but still, wow. Going forward, however, I am not going to bring up yield estimates because Outfield is not ready to roll this feature out yet. It’s kind of in Beta testing still, TBD?
• Two orchards in Massachusetts, the UMass Orchard in Belchertown and Tougas Family Farm in Northboro were included in flyovers and mapping. I also had the opportunity to demonstrate Outfield at a meeting of the New Jersey State Horticultural Society at Wightman’s Orchard in Morristown, NJ in June. See this Fruit Notes article. Plus in August did a demo at Crist Brothers Orchards in Walden, NY and Once Munsee Orchard in Wallkill, NY.
• When I say we, I mean I had help, Liam Ouelette who was a UMass CAFE summer scholar I was lucky to have help me out. Brain works much faster in young folks (Liam) than old folks (me), and he was a natural at flying the drone (Figure 1). As part of his summer scholar work, Liam produced a nice poster (Figure 2).
• In general, using the drone along with the Outfield Dashboard and Litchi app was pretty easy. File management got a bit tricky, however,  as the number of blocks we flew over increased. Flights typically averaged five minutes or so to complete, but it depended a bit on block size, which ranged from one-half an acre (< 3 minutes) to approximately nine acres (10+ minutes). One notable ‘incident’ occurred when Jon did not check a particular block perimeter closely, so the drone and an oak tree had a ‘meeting’ which resulted in the drone getting stuck about 30 feet up in the tree canopy. Fortunately, someone with an adept throwing arm was able to knock it out of the tree using – what else? – apples as the dislodging projectile. The drone was undamaged, amazing.
• Uploading picture files taken by the drone during the largely hands-off, programmed block flyovers resulted – within 24 hours usually – the Outfield ‘heat’ maps in their Dashboard. Examples of bloom density and fruit variability maps, as well as sample region/image locations are pictured in Figures 3 - 6. They are pretty self-explanatory.

OK, the “so what?”

• As I alluded, I was hoping to eventually compare the Outfield ‘heat’ maps to those produced by Vivid-Machines. I will have to dig into that more extensively, but it’s kind of like comparing apples to oranges so I will have to re-think that.
• Anyone can do this, i.e., buy a $1,000 drone, get your FAA Part 107 license (preferably), pay Outfield for their Dashboard and flight plans (rack rate circa $100 an acre in 2024), outline your orchard blocks of interest, and fly and make maps until your heart's content. Typically during full bloom (blossom density map), then once the fruits reach one inch diameter in mid-late June (fruit variability map), again in July, again in August (fruit variability maps).
• What’s actionable? Ideally variable rate sprayer to apply bloom and fruitlet thinners, or maybe you can just have the map in your tractor and speed up/slow down? The whole variable rate sprayer thing is coming, trust me. Hand thinning, give a map to the crew supervisor to make sure time is well spent, hand thinning where most needed? Pre-plan harvest operations, but really need a yield estimate from Outfield for that, hint 🙂. What about variable rate ReTain spraying? What am I missing? Please leave a comment!

Figure 1 - Liam piloting drone over Royal Red Honeycrisp block at Tougas Family Farm, July 3, 2024

Figure 2 - Liam presenting poster at UMass CAFE Summer Scholar Symposium, September 9, 2024

Figure 3 - Blossom variability map from Royal Red Honeycrisp block at Tougas Family Farm, May 9, 2024

Figure 4 - Example image regions/location during bloom in 'Royal Red' Honeycrisp block at Tougas Family Farm, May 9, 2024 

Figure 5 - Fruit variability map of 'Royal Red' Honeycrisp block at Tougas Family Farm, September 7, 2024

Figure 6 - Example image regions/location pre-harvest in 'Royal Red' Honeycrisp block at Tougas Family Farm, September 7, 2024