This Drone Business Is a Flying Success. Find out Why.

Drone enthusiasts are witnessing exciting times: both the technology and the possibilities of putting drones to work are skyrocketing. Construction sites, energy parks, and industry giants — the growing number of businesses that opt for drone-based solutions proves that drones can do a lot more than just capturing scenic landscapes.

A few years ago, a new field had emerged on the drone operating market, and it has been on the rise ever since: agricultural drone mapping — or in plain English: drone-collected images of field crops, vegetables, fruits and vineyards.

Within just a few years, drone technology has allowed countless farmers to obtain powerful insights into crop performance and elevate their agricultural efficiency to unknown heights. With drone technology, farmers get tangible and accurate data of every inch of their field.

Why Agriculture Is a Great and Profitable Field for Drone Operators

National Geographic listed agricultural drone mapping as one of the most exciting ways of using drones in the new millennium, right after hurricane hunting and wildlife protection. But unlike spying on storms and mapping nesting spots of animals, agricultural imaging is something that every drone operator can do — even if you have no agricultural knowledge.

Another great thing of working in and with agriculture is that agricultural mapping will allow you to grow a customer base with regular and recurring mapping jobs, as opposed to wedding photography or filming tourist resorts, where you usually jump from one client to another without having a steady income.

Farmers can do great things with data from drone-collected images. But be careful: farmers need drone data, not just drone images! Pictures of fields are nice to look at, but what’s actually going to answer the farmer’s questions and lead to peak performance is actionable data from drone images.

A simple drone data processing software can get you there. And today, such analyses can be performed in a few clicks, which is exactly what Puerto Rico-based aerial services provider Caribe Drones did and what helped them achieve terrific results.

Image Processing — the Key to Success for Drone Operators Working in Agriculture

Ramon Pagan from Caribe Drones in action

The guys from Caribe Drones know that drone operators working in agriculture need to keep their eyes and ears open to the farmer’s needs.

Farmers could ask for insights on their crop performance ratio, the plant’s overall health, flowering levels or plant counts. And as a drone operator, you can help farmers with all of them.

To do so, Caribe Drones uses Agremo web app that lets drone operators, farmers and ag consultants process drone-collected images and obtain powerful data.

Agremo User Caribe Drones: Flying the Extra Mile Is Paying Off

Ramon Pagan, President of Caribe Drones

Caribe Drones is a team of passionate ad seasoned UAV experts who have been authorized by the FAA for aerial services in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Their mission is to help industry leaders gain better insights and improve their work with drone-collected data.

Today, Caribe Drones is one of the top drone service providers in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean for tropical fruits or vegetables. “The hard work is showing good results”, says Ramon Pagan, the President of Caribe Drones.

Better Results with Powerful Crop Insights

The drone operators at Caribe Drones use two types of drones to shoot aerial footage: DJI’s Phantom 4 Pro equipped with an RGB camera with a 20M resolution and a DJI’s Inspire 1 V 2.0 with RGB and NDVI with a 12M resolution.

The initial settings are adjusted in the blink of an eye: after defining the mapping area, the remaining settings like overlap rate and flight path are adjusted. Alternatively, the system can generate the appropriate settings automatically.

These are some of the standard settings Caribe Drones recommends for getting high-resolution images that can easily be turned into valuable information.

After collecting drone images of a field, they go to the Agremo app, where they store and process their data for accurate results and a higher ROI.

Here is how quick and simple the entire process is:

Upload the images to DroneDeploy in order to generate a 2D map. After that, launch the Agremo app and upload the map.

Agremo then lets you choose between 9 different reports, such as stand counts, weed or plant disease analyses.

Here’s an example of a recent flowering report Caribe Drones received, where a seemingly fine looking mango field was analyzed:

The analysis revealed that only 1.58% of this field’s mangoes had actually started to flower, while more than half of the field’s crop hadn’t entered the flowering stage at all.

Armed with this data and the exact location of the problematic areas, the farmer was able to adjust his agricultural practices — no arduous legwork, no unnecessary pesticide application, no unpleasant surprises at the end of the growing season.

“After introducing mapping and crop analysis reports to farmers, they could see their field from another perspective. (..) Agremo is helping us bring essential information to farmers which was impossible to get until recently”, says Ramon from Caribe Drones.

The result? Better crop performances, better customer relationships, and profit on both sides. No expert analytical skills or additional equipment needed!

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What Our Clients Say About Us

  • Agremo's AI solution turns DJI's drone imagery into actionable insights, and its recipe maps make our AGRAS drone a truly intelligent and precise spraying tool." The integration of the Agremo platform between Agremo and the DJI drone is a turnkey solution for precision agriculture.

    DJI Agriculture

    Smart Farming Team

  • As markets become more defined and customer expectations are increasingly specific, Black Gold believes that we must develop greater awareness of how our crops function. Agremo provides a new window into understanding what is happening in our fields at a more granular level and how to move the needle in the best direction.

    Bryan Bowen

    Director of Agronomy at Black Gold Farms

  • Agremo helps us better understand and adjust to changes throughout the growing season. The flexibility and agility the Agremo team has shown through their platform enable us to adjust and meet changing demands due to weather or pest developments as the season progresses. In addition, the Agremo team consistently listens to feedback to ensure that everything works as described for our specific use cases.

    John Glick

    CIO at Cochranville Ag Service

  • After introducing mapping and crop analysis reports to farmers, they could see their field from another perspective. Agremo is helping us bring essential information to farmers which were impossible to get until recently.

    Ramón Pagán

    Mapping Expert and President @ Caribe Drones // Puerto Rico

  • Agremo’s map is more specific. Competitors break their maps into half-acre grids, but Agremo colors the whole thing exactly how it is. Visually, it’s night and day. A lot of farmers are visual.

    Corey Nohl

    Drone Operator and Farmer @ Above All Aerial // MN, USA

  • With Agremo reports, farmers they can increase productivity, reduce major problems by having early warnings during the early stages of the crops preventing major losses. Bottom line, increase ROI while minimizing losses.

    Miguel Ángel Salgado

    General Manager & Mapping Expert @ Ansar Drone // Mexico

  • The best thing about the plant population reports is the accuracy, which is splendid and it is very important! Great service at eye level with the customer!

    Sune Enevoldsen

    Field Manager and Drone Operator @ Noble Nordmann // Denmark

  • The biggest benefit for farmers who use drones and Agremo reports is that they increase their yields, reduce costs or improve their productivity. In the end, all these benefits are lead to extra profits.

    Ciprian Iorga

    General Manager @ La Orizont // Romania

  • We introduced new farming methods to farmers in Africa, who recognized that Agremo and drones can provide them with quicker, more convenient, efficient and accurate way of gathering decision making information.

    Derrick Annan

    CEO @ Aeroshutter // Ghana

  • With Agremo, we doubled our productivity, and our forestry clients are happy with the Agremo reports necessary for the inventory system as well as a stem map with tree distribution.

    Curt Rogers

    Co-owner @ TimberDrone // USA

  • Of the few vendors who advertised drone imagery analytics, Agremo provided a vastly superior capability. It is extremely important to base any remote sensing assessment in solid ground truth. Agremo clearly excelled over their competitors.

    Konrad Kern

    Image Scientist @ Falcon Aerial Data // USA

  • Agremo Stand Count analysis shows how successful seeding was and how many plants farmers will be able to harvest. Withal, it can help to apply different sowing standards in different parts of the plot, in order to achieve the highest yields.

    Zdravko Hojka

    Agroservice and Product Manager (Maize and Oil Crops), KWS SAAT AG

  • Since we ran our first report with Agremo, both our company and our customers continue to be impressed with the accuracy of the reports compared to our ground truthing. We have leveraged many Agremo reports but find the most value in crop health, weed and stand count analyses. We continue to leverage the Agremo intelligence as a proven way to improve our customers’ bottom line.

    Jeff Buyck

    VP of Precision Ag C&B

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    What precision agriculture reports do you need?

    • Weed Detection

      • spot weed-infested areas in time
      • take immediate effective in-season corrective measures
      • get precise spraying maps
    • Green Snap Detection

      • identify and classify areas with broken plants in the field
      • locate and quantify the crop damage
    • Lodging Detection

      • detect and classify areas with lodged plants
      • locate and quantify the crop damage
    • Stand Count

      • get the precise number of plants in a specific area
      • evaluate seed quality
      • assess field damages
      • know the zones of potential yield losses
    • VRS Stand Count

      • calculate the percentage under the norm in each zone with the same seeding rate
      • reduce input costs in the low-productivity field areas
      • count plants in the best and the worst zones
    • Plant Vigor

      • get data on the exact location, condition, strength, and lushness of vegetation
      • optimize the usage of inputs, save on them and prevent over-application
    • Waterlogging Detection

      • quickly and accurately locate all potential waterlogged areas in your field
      • reduce the negative effects of waterlogging, regardless of the field size and crop sort
    • Canopy Cover

      • get vital data on vegetation conditions and primary plant productivity
      • get the necessary details regarding the leaf area index (LAI)
      • determine the most optimal LAI for the fruits, vegetables, or cereals

       

    • Plant Count and Size Analysis

      • Count all plants in the field, such as leafy greens, trees, or orchard tree fruits.
      • Classify them per user-set size parameters, and filter out the counted plants per size.
      • Prepare the harvest operation per yield-ready zones
    • Weed Detection

      • spot weed-infested areas in time
      • take immediate effective in-season corrective measures
      • get precise spraying maps
    • Green Snap Detection

      • identify and classify areas with broken plants in the field
      • locate and quantify the crop damage
    • Lodging Detection

      • detect and classify areas with lodged plants
      • locate and quantify the crop damage
    • Stand Count

      • get the precise number of plants in a specific area
      • evaluate seed quality
      • assess field damages
      • know the zones of potential yield losses
    • VRS Stand Count

      • calculate the percentage under the norm in each zone with the same seeding rate
      • reduce input costs in the low-productivity field areas
      • count plants in the best and the worst zones
    • Plant Vigor

      • get data on the exact location, condition, strength, and lushness of vegetation
      • optimize the usage of inputs, save on them and prevent over-application
    • Waterlogging Detection

      • quickly and accurately locate all potential waterlogged areas in your field
      • reduce the negative effects of waterlogging, regardless of the field size and crop sort
    • Canopy Cover

      • get vital data on vegetation conditions and primary plant productivity
      • get the necessary details regarding the leaf area index (LAI)
      • determine the most optimal LAI for the fruits, vegetables, or cereals

       

    • Plant Count and Size Analysis

      • Count all plants in the field, such as leafy greens, trees, or orchard tree fruits.
      • Classify them per user-set size parameters, and filter out the counted plants per size.
      • Prepare the harvest operation per yield-ready zones