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> As the other commenter pointed out, this competes with crop dusting, not tractors, although maybe it's possible that it could work for more targeted sprays? S
by surfingdino 2y ago
> As the other commenter pointed out, this competes with crop dusting, not tractors, although maybe it's possible that it could work for more targeted sprays? Some weeds for example are pretty resistant to standard herbicides, so if you could, for relatively low labor costs, target just those weeds, that could potentially be worth it.
Someone needs to do a cost comparison of using crop dusters vs. drones per square mile.
- bluGill 2y agoCost isn't important. the real question is labor. There are very few qualified crop duster pilots, and so farmers often have trouble getting a pilot when they need it. Few pilots go into this area because it doesn't pay well compared to other commercial flying and it is a lot more dangerous.
- carlosjobim 2y agoWell which way is it? If the demand is so high that pilots are difficult to come by, how can it not pay well enough to attract pilots? Sounds to me like the farmers need to open their wallets...
- nerdponx 2y agoBudget constraints. Farmers don't have the cash, so they pay in waiting times instead.
- carlosjobim 2y agoThat means crop dusting is not effective and is a net loss activity.
- nerdponx 2y agoHuh? Willingness to pay is always a function of utility and budget.
- carlosjobim 2y agoNobody orders crop dusting because they think it's fun, they do it to increase the profit from their crops. If it has utility, then it will give the farmer the budget and the willingness to pay. If crop dusting doesn't have enough utility for the farmers to pay a salary attractive enough for pilots to do the work, then it is inefficient. Alternatively the farmers or the pilots are acting irrationally.
- nerdponx 2y ago> If it has utility, then it will give the farmer the budget and the willingness to pay. That's not how it works at all. Farmers are rational and the price system is behaving efficiently here. The waiting time is part of the price. Crop dusting can still be better than not crop dusting even if the profit does not cover the "full" market price. Example: crop dusting improves farm profit by $5000/year, but costs either $8000 for a pilot in a market with abundant high quality pilots, or $4000 in a market of 10th percentile pilots with long wait times. If the actual effect of crop dusting is the same in both cases, a rational farmer will choose the latter over no crop dusting at all.
- carlosjobim 2y agoIf they don't loose money or produce for waiting, then the originally stated problem of farmers having to wait for too long, is not really a problem. Then all is good, I guess?
- nerdponx 2y agoLike poor people spending 3x commuting compared to rich people is not a problem, right? Market cleared, deadweight loss minimized, freedom from serfdom achieved, mission accomplished. Just because someone is maximizing their (ordinal) utility given their budget set, doesn't mean that they're well off by any absolute/cardinal measurement. That said, nobody here actually said it was a problem for farmers, only that wait times are long. I'm just pushing back on your incorrect pseudoeconomic analysis.
- bluGill 2y agomost pilots won't do the job for any price.