senseFly to Explain the Cost and Process of Drones in Agriculture

With the clear benefits that agronomists get from a birds’ eye view of their crops, precision agriculture has been one of the leading applications of drones across the globe.   The technology offers incredible advantages: with the data provided by drones farms of any scale can conserve resources, monitor crops, make better predictions, and save money.

But in precision agriculture as with many commercial drone applications, companies can be hesitant to invest in new technology without a clear understanding of the cost benefit.  Now, with their line of commercial drones having flown more than 300,000 flights and 90,000 hours  over more than 30 million acres, senseFly will host a webinar to lay it out clearly.  senseFly, the Parrot company behind the lightweight professional eBee drone, will host the free webinar at 10:00 EST/16:00 CET on Tuesday, January 24. “The information shared during this webinar will help those in agriculture understand the value drones can bring to their business,” Nathan Stein, senseFly Ag Solutions Manager, tells DRONELIFE.

During this event, experienced operators from two of the ag market’s agronomy leaders—AIRINOV (France) and Deveron UAS (Canada)—will discuss their companies’ drone use, including the opportunities and challenges that adopting this technology brings. Attendees must register in advance for the one-hour webinar, entitled Ag Drone Insights – Experienced Agronomists Discuss UAV Results, Costs, Workflows and More.

“Across the globe, agronomists, growers and researchers are increasingly using drones to gain deeper insights and to optimise their operations,” said senseFly’s CEO, Jean-Christophe Zufferey. “This webinar will help professionals who have yet to adopt UAV technology to more fully understand how and when drones can help drive their businesses, and those of their clients, forward.”

Topics covered in the webinar will include:
· How to choose, adopt and operate ag drone technology
· The different drone applications possible — from scouting to irrigation planning
· How to manage drone data and transform this into marketable products
· The real cost of ag drone ownership
· The impact of drone regulations on doing business
· How to build a scalable business based on drone generated imagery

Entrepreneur and farmer Norm Lamothe, head of UAS agriculture at Deveron UAS, will demonstrate how Deveron UAS employs drone tech across eastern Canada to more accurately analyse the health of its clients’ crops, optimise their applications, predict yields and identify issues such as disease and infestation.

Agricultural engineer Erick Lebrun, communications manager at AIRINOV, will discuss how AIRINOV combines its expert crop insights with data from senseFly fixed-wing UAVs to help its customers produce more and optimise their time. For example, he will detail AIRINOV’s work with OCEALIA Groupe, a large French farming cooperative, whose farmers have benefitted from a 10 percent yield increase since employing AIRINOV’s drone-based consulting services.

In addition, senseFly will provide a glimpse into the company’s newest advanced agricultural drone, the eBee SQ.