Drones meet drought in skies of storied California farmland

August 29, 2016 at 3:42 a.m. | Updated August 29, 2016 at 3:45 a.m.

by Associated Press

In this photo taken July 25, 2016, Danny Royer, vice president of technology at Bowles Farming Co., prepares to pilot a drone over a tomato field near Los Banos, Calif. The farm hired Royer this year to oversee drones equipped with a state-of-the-art thermal camera. The drone can scan from a bird's-eye view for cool, soggy patches where a gopher may have chewed through the buried drip irrigation line and caused a leak of water, a precious resource in drought-stricken California. On the farm's 2,400-acre tomato crop alone, this year drones could detect enough leaks to save water needed to sustain more than 550 families of four for a year. (AP Photo/Scott Smith)
In this photo taken July 25, 2016, Danny Royer, vice president of technology at Bowles Farming Co., prepares to pilot a drone over a tomato field near Los Banos, Calif. The farm hired Royer this year to oversee drones equipped with a state-of-the-art thermal camera. The drone can scan from a bird's-eye view for cool, soggy patches where a gopher may have chewed through the buried drip irrigation line and caused a leak of water, a precious resource in drought-stricken California. On the farm's 2,400-acre tomato crop alone, this year drones could detect enough leaks to save water needed to sustain more than 550 families of four for a year. (AP Photo/Scott Smith)

LOS BANOS, Calif. (AP) - In the drought-stricken West, where every drop of water counts, some California farmers are using advanced drone technology to save the scarce resource.

Among them is Central Valley farmer Cannon Michael, who is using a drone equipped with a thermal camera to find leaks in buried drip irrigation lines. Michael estimates this could save enough water to sustain 550 families of four for a year.

The drone industry says about 2,100 companies and individuals have federal permission to fly drones for farming.

On Monday, federal regulators are expected to relax the rules on commercial drones, a move that could spur greater use of such aircraft on American farms.

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