A coffee producer in Brazil’s Espírito Santo state has transformed his farming operations by integrating DJI drones for aerial spraying, reducing crop damage and improving efficiency on his 75-hectare (185-acre) plantation.
Journey to Drone Adoption
Wellon Gripa Rui, based in Linhares, first encountered drone technology while observing its use on a nearby banana farm. This sparked his interest. He discussed the idea with his brother, noting the key advantage: “I think it would be good for us to buy a drone, because we don’t need to enter the farm, right?” Rui purchased a DJI drone three years ago and has since applied it exclusively to his Conilon coffee crops.
Rui emphasizes the ease of learning. The drone operation proves simpler than handling traditional equipment. “It’s easy to learn drone operation. Easy to handle, easier than driving a tractor,” he says. This accessibility allowed Rui to pilot the drone himself, with the same individual handling tasks for the farm.
Key Benefits in Pest and Disease Management
The farm conducts around seven annual applications, focusing on fungicides and insecticides at precise times. Drones excel during unexpected issues, such as caterpillar infestations near harvest. Tractors risk knocking produce to the ground, but drones avoid this.
“If you enter with a tractor there, an atomizer on a farm now close to harvest, you will drop your production on the ground, right? And with the drone you don’t drop, right?” Rui explains in the video.
Weather poses no barrier. Previously, rain prevented tractor entry, leading to plant breakage and delays. Now, operations resume quickly.
“When it rained we couldn’t enter the farm. And when we tried to enter, we broke the plant. Today it just rained. You have good weather, you enter with the drone, you make the correction quickly,” Rui states.
This aerial approach eliminates the need for ground equipment, preserving the crop.
Dense planting benefits further. Traditional methods require spacing for tractors, but drones bypass this. Rui estimates 5 to 10% annual yield loss from tractor-induced damage, including dropped flowers, forming coffee (pinha), and mature grains.
“So you’re dropping the flower. You’re dropping the pinha. And you also drop the grain. So you can be dropping all three things on the ground. Everything that would form coffee,” he details. Drones prevent such losses, yielding extra gains.
Efficiency in Resources and Labor
Water usage drops significantly with drones. Rui adapted to 20 liters per hectare (about 2.1 gallons per acre), achieving effective coverage.
“With water you will wet your plant more. But is it viable, yes. Maybe it wouldn’t be with drone. Because I adapted to 20 L per ha I make a good coverage on my plant,” he notes.
Testing various rates—from 10 to 30 liters—confirmed 20 as optimal for coffee. This contrasts with tractor spraying, which used 600 liters and covered one row at a time, prolonging the process. Drones handle three rows simultaneously.
As a family producer, Rui employs 10 people overall, but spraying requires just him as pilot and one helper.
“Spraying in general just me and one helper only,” he says. One pilot suffices for the 75-hectare field. Early on, Rui offered services to friends lacking access. “I bought a drone to do service for us. I’m not going to do it for you any way, I’m going to do it for you the way I do for myself. So I’m going to do a good service,” he told them. Demand grew, but increased farm work led him to focus internally.
Drones like DJI’s offer precise, low-impact solutions, potentially reshaping practices for crops beyond coffee. Rui’s experience underscores operational efficiencies, from reduced labor to minimized losses, making drone integration a practical step for modern farmers.
