By Lot Amórs
During the month of November 2019, Professor Normandes Matos da Silva of the Master of Environmental Management and Technology program of the University of Rondonopolis in Brazil, invited Lot Amorós of the Spanish Dronecoria project, to carry out a workshop on seed coating, and manufacturing a drone for ecological restoration through direct sowing.
Dronecoria is a project that seeks to socialize the technology behind seed coating and aerial sowing through drones, using accessible machines such as a cement mixer, and has created a low-cost open-source drone, digitally manufactured with plywood laser cutting, capable of carry up to 10 kg of seeds, and sowing one hectare in 10 minutes.
From the workshop, the University of Rondonópolis will have a tool for rapid aerial sowing and coating of native seeds to increase vigour and protection against predators, which will be used to conduct large-scale ecological restoration research in the Amazon, Pantanal and Cerrado biomes.
For more information visit:
Dronecoria site: http://dronecoria.org/en
DIY seed coating tutorial: http://semillaspoderosas.org/en/as-pelletizing-seeds/
Master program of Environmental Management and Technology: https://200.17.60.3/ufmt/site/secao/index/Rondonopolis/5712