Why did WeedMapper make sense?
As a drone pilot with Groundspray, a contract ground spraying business operating across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Cassie De Beer is always looking for ways to improve efficiency and deliver better outcomes for clients.
When the team began searching for a more effective way to map weeds and support spot spraying operations, they found the solution in Single Ag's WeedMapper, a drone-based weed mapping solution that uses advanced sensors and cameras to detect and map weeds, generating prescription maps for targeted spraying. By mapping paddocks ahead of the spray rig, Groundspray can better target problem weed areas, improve operational efficiency and reduce unnecessary chemical use.
Before adopting Single Ag's WeedMapper, Groundspray relied on camera systems to map weeds. While these systems worked well, the team wanted a solution that would improve efficiency, increase mapping capacity and provide a better way to identify problem areas across the paddock.
Reflecting on their decision to invest in WeedMapper, Cassie said the demonstration immediately highlighted what the technology could offer.
"When we were first looking at the WeedMapper system, the biggest thing that stood out for us was when we had a demo with Shane Kable.”
“We could see that the efficiency and effectiveness of being able to use the mapper and the software to go with it was going to improve how we could control weeds on the farm."
It wasn't simply about finding weeds more quickly. The team recognised WeedMapper would help them locate problem weed areas, supporting more effective long-term weed management.
"We were able to then locate areas of problem weeds, and we could then target them a little bit better long-term rather than just the short term."
How has this improved their business?
Before implementing WeedMapper, Groundspray typically spot sprayed between 500 and 700 hectares a day using its dedicated fixed camera optical spray system. Today, Cassie maps well over 1,000 hectares a day ahead of the spray rig using WeedMapper. Her highest daily mapping total has reached approximately 1,700 hectares, and under the right weather conditions and paddock dimensions, she believes 2,000 hectares in a day is achievable.
Alongside the increase in productivity, the accuracy of the mapping has also improved.
"We've actually found that the WeedMapper system has been much more accurate than what we've used with camera systems in the past.
"We've found that we can detect weeds down to around the size of a 20 cent piece to a 50 cent piece without any errors."
The software has also transformed the way Groundspray manages chemical applications. When generating prescription maps, WeedMapper calculates the percentage of the paddock expected to be sprayed and estimates the number of hectares requiring treatment based on the mapped polygons. This allows the team to prepare the right amount of chemical before entering the paddock, reducing chemical waste, minimising refill time and avoiding excess chemical at the end of the day.
"We don't have wastage of chemical. We don't have extra time being wasted filling up more than we need to. And we pretty much don't have to worry about excess chemical at the end of the day."
Beyond improving their own operations, WeedMapper has also created new opportunities for Groundspray. While contract spraying remains the business's primary service, they can now provide prescription maps for growers and contractors who wish to complete the spraying themselves. Clients can use the prescription maps generated by Cassie with their own equipment, creating an additional service offering without needing to invest in additional staff or machinery.
“We are now able to not only do that, but we can also map for other people. That has actually given us more opportunities for work within our sector without having to add any more resourcing."
For Cassie, one of the biggest benefits has been increasing the business's capacity while continuing to use the equipment they already had.
"We've actually increased the capacity of the spot spraying that we can do in our business purely by owning a drone with the same machines that we already had."
Benefit
When asked whether she would recommend WeedMapper to other growers and contractors, she responded immediately.
"Absolutely. We've been really happy with what we are capable of doing." By increasing mapping capacity, improving accuracy, reducing chemical waste and creating new business opportunities, Single Ag's WeedMapper has become an integral part of Groundspray's operation, helping the team deliver smarter, more efficient weed management across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
