Raised on a farm that embraces GPS guided tractors and satellite maps, early on Loren King developed a penchant for problem-solving involving technology.
Throughout the past few years, King has had opportunities to learn how technology is shaping the landscape of agriculture.
The Branch Areas Career Center FFA member developed a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) that focused on emerging agricultural technology. King’s ingenuity has earned him top honors as being named a 2017 finalist for American Star in Agriscience.
The Burr Oak, Mich., resident remembers an evening when his father and grandfather were monitoring their fields because of runoff issues, and they used Gators to go and test. King thought there should be an easier way. Later, when he was reading an issue of Popular Science, the idea came to him: They should use a drone.
After reading about drones, he thought about the possibility of using one to help with the testing. A year later, King put his research to the test and built a drone.
“It was completely custom,” King says. “I ordered all the parts, soldered everything and did all the programming.” He then hooked up two soil sensors, one to view the pH and the other one to view moisture content, sunlight amount, and temperature.
He began testing in several different fields with different soil types. Then he adjusted his drone to raise and lower its sensors to protect them from possible damage on impact.
“My motivation for doing this stems from watching how my family has previously solved things,” King says. “I was looking to apply this as something that could grow and become even greater than what I was able to do with it.”
His drone is designed to fly and land. Its two sensors then push directly into the soil and through Wi-Fi, data is sent back to the phone.
King admits the process wasn’t without challenges. He notes it took as many as 25 attempts to get the drone running the first time. as it was self-built. “I really had to grow through that process,” King said. “The people around me would just encourage me the whole time in the class.”
This research, King notes, is important, because we’re moving to a future where everything has to be more efficient. “If you’re talking environmentally, there’s going to be requirements coming out soon. So being able to show real-time data, by just sending out your drone, can show real, physical evidence of how we care for our farms.”
While King remains undecided on his future, he thinks his drone will play a part in some startup. “I definitely want to turn this into some type of business to get the technology out there so that others can use it,” he says.
King is the son of Angie and Bart. He is a member of the Branch Areas Career Center FFA Chapter, led by advisors Carrie Preston and Alison Bassage.
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