Covered Pollination Trials - Orchard Crops

This is a pollination system that will be mounted on a drone (UAV) to pollinate orchard crops. The system already is being testing with a prototype. The focus of the project is to see if mechanical or artificial pollination can be successful without the aid of bees. To determine this covered trials must be performed on a variety of crops. With the current trend toward honey bee colony collapse, supplemental pollination may be necessary for setting crops in the future. The crops for immediate testing are Almonds, Cherries, Apples, Kiwi, Pistachios, Pears, Hazelnuts and Avocado. These are crops that need cross-pollination, but not the only crops that may benefit from supplemental pollination.
The drones need to be large, heavy lift units. They will be equipped with autonomous flight systems to fly 10-12 feet above the crop at a set speed for predictable pollen distribution. If properly built, the units can deliver 1000 grams of pollen per flight. The goal is 25 acres per flight. Prototypes for the entire system, on a smaller scale, have been tested and are showing great promise. The risk of injury due to malfunction is very low due to the rural nature of farming. The drone will never be flown over people. To see if pollination can be achieved, covered trials must be conducted. This requires a grower to agree to cover part of his crop with a net to keep bees out of the process. A grower may/would be paid to allow this to happen due to the possibility of crop loss. The drone will also have to be equipped with LiDAR to navigate hilly terrain and this also must be developed and tested. Avocados are quite frequently grown on steep hillsides. The aim of the project it to identify which crops can be successfully pollinated without bees. We know that "by hand" pollination has been around for quite some time. The system proposed will scale up pollen distribution and ultimately automate the process for farmers to have these systems readily available.
The ideal candidates for the trials are orchard crop farmers in Central California. These farmers face many unpredictable factors in a season including weather, pests, blight and disease. Any farm with enough acreage is required to have bee hives during bloom to qualify for federal crop insurance. The cost per hive is nearing $225 in California (https://www.dadant.com/almond- growers-pay-record-prices-amid-bee-shortage/) If pollination can prove successful, a farmer could have control over the ideal times of application at a predictable cost. There would also be no risk of availability. The bee hive cycles through the season in time with what blooms first. The Cherry farmer must wait for the hives that the Almond farmer is using. This creates a bidding war to entice the beekeeper to take the hive from the Almond grower who will leave the hives
DRONE POLLINATION PITCH 1
1-2 weeks past bloom in many cases. The value of control over pollination is easy to see. Bees do not pollinate as a primary function. It is a byproduct of gathering food for the hive and will travel up to five (5) miles to find the best food source.
The company currently pollinates with drones and ground-based units mounted on ATV's. We have pollinated orchard crops in the San Joaquin central valley all the way up to Yakima, WA. The team has a drone builder working with the Ardupilot system. We have one electrical engineer, a retired crop estimator and a software engineer from Hewlett Packard. We have relationships with local farmers to be able to achieve the goals set out in the above statements.