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The use of drones in agriculture is gaining supporters everyday, but it has yet to explode into the mainstream. HoneyComb CEO Ryan Jenson believes his Oregon-based company is poised to master this niche market when the metaphorical bomb goes off.
“Agriculture is expected to be the largest adopter of drone technology,” Jenson told DRONELIFE in an email. “Given the impact that drone technology has already had in agriculture, we believe many farms across the country, and the world, will adopt the technology as a standard tool in their operations.”
When the tipping point finally arrives, HoneyComb will be well practiced in providing growers, and farm consultants with “drone-based data acquisition tools and data processing services.”
Founded in 2012, Jenson’s company focuses on providing agricultural solutions with a single, autonomous, fixed-wing drone -their AgDrone UAS– and their extensive suite of cameras, sensors, analytics, and mobile controllers.
“HoneyComb’s AgDrone UAS has provided information to farmers across a wide variety of issues including crop stress, irrigation issues, planning and damage assessment,” Jenson said.
And the results have been encouraging. “We’ve seen our AgDrone UAS pay for itself many times over in a single flight. Agriculture is a large market and when problems can be detected or measured, ROI can increase quickly.”
As for what’s next, Jenson says, “HoneyComb is squarely focused on agriculture, but industries such as forestry and surveying are quickly emerging as additional markets.”
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com