MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — As farming strives for efficiency through precision, it gets more high-tech each year. Farmers, researchers and business owners recently got to examine unmanned aerial vehicles, high-resolution cameras, electrical conductivity readers and the software that runs them at the University of Idaho's Parker Farm. Robert Blair, a fourth-generation grower from Kendrick, has been using precision agriculture methods since 2003. Blair has a small drone equipped with a camera he is able to fly over his fields to track trends or disturbances. With a high-resolution camera, it is able to pick up drying patterns, pest infestations, weed patches or other damage, such as from animals. Blair tells the Moscow-Pullman Daily News that it looks like a toy but it is a powerful tool for farmers.

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