Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Agribotix Ties With Big Farm Equipment Supplier On Agricultural Drones

Boulder-based drone systems developer Agribotix, which is developing a service which helps farmers tap into the data collecting ability of unmanned, drone aircraft, said last week that it has partnered with AGCO, a major supplier of agricultural equipment. According to the two, they are bringing a turnkey, drone-enabled product to the market, to help farmers collect and analyze field data for precision agriculture applications. The new product ties Agribotix's Farmlens platform with a quadcopter, which can record and capture field data across up to 60 acres in a single flight. Drones are being used to analyze fertilization, weeds, irrigation, and other crop health issues, and allow farmers to more rapidly and efficiently gather field information. AGCO says it had net sales of $9.7 billion in agricultural equipment in 2014. Agribotix develops its software systems on a quadcopter platform developed by 3D Robotics.