InterDrone 2018

Robert Blair




Robert is a fourth-generation farmer from north central Idaho managing 1,300 dryland acres of wheat, barley, peas, lentils, chickpeas, alfalfa, and cows. The farm is situated on the edge of the rolling hills of the Palouse and not far from his Alma Mater, the University of Idaho, where he received his B.S. in Agriculture Business. His journey with precision agriculture started in 2003 using a PDA for simple mapping. That evolved into all different types of equipment, including Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) in 2006. Robert is the first farmer to own and use a UAS. His vision and advocacy of these technologies helped him become the Precision Agriculture Institute’s 2009 International Farmer of the Year. Robert has been on the leading edge of the precision agriculture utilization in the PNW and U.S. Since that time, Robert received an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2011, taking him to South America for six weeks studying these technologies. During the fall of 2012, he spent three weeks in Germany on a McCloy Fellowship for agriculture. In Idaho he was recognized as one of the most influential U of I College of Agriculture and Life Science (CALS) alumni, receiving the 2013 Governor’s Award for Agriculture Technology and Innovation, and being honored as a 2015 U of I CALS Distinguished Alumni. Robert’s vision and leadership ability has been recognized by the positions he has held, including president of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, chairman of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) Research & Tech Committee, chairman of the U.S. Wheat/NAWG Joint Biotech Committee, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation county president, an initial member of Idaho’s UAS steering committee, and an initial advisory board member of the Drone World Expo.

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