b"Agri Spray Drones most popular model is the T-30.PHOTO: AGRI SPRAY DRONESfield accessibil- Like all technologies, education andcommercial officer for Taranis, who adds ity problems mysupport are among the greatest barriersthat those timely insights make a real dif-customers wereto implementation. Drones are no differ- ference in performance profitability. facing, whether itent. To legally fly a drone, pilots need toSince introducing high-resolution was a drone thatsecure a FAA Part 107, FAA Part 137, andscouting as a service in the U.S. in 2020, they purchasedFAA Section 44807 Weight Exemption.Westfield, Indiana-based Taranis has themselves orIn addition, drone registration and a statehelped to build relationships between they worked withpesticide applicators license are required.farmers and their trusted advisors a company whoFor new operators, knowing where tothrough drone technology. offered drone appli- start and who to talk to can be the great- Using a fleet of DJI Matrice 300 cation, Morelandest challenge. (M300) drones, the retail agronomists says. Like any company, we, of course,Taranis partners with can capture ultra- Currently, DJI offerswant to have return customers, but morehigh-resolution imagery that provides two spray drone models,than that, we really want to give everyonea leaf-level view of any plant in the the Agras T-10 and T-30,who buys a drone the education to getfield. These images are then analyzed with a soon-to-be thirdthe most out of their purchase. Dronesby Taranis AI platform that leverages offering of a T-40, comingare an opportunity to create an additionalmachine learning and computer vision to in 2023. Drone technology isrevenue stream that can bring the nextidentify actionable insights at scale. These advancing and, in turn, the oppor- generation back to the farm or bring newinsights not only deliver opportunity for tunities for application on the farm,business to a rural area, Moreland says. in-season management, but a record of are increasing. Today, Agri Spray DronesFor the Neills new business, fungicideanomaly that a farmer can look back on in most popular model is the T-30, a modelapplications on wheat, corn, and beansfuture years to assess and make manage-that can cover between 30 and 35 acres inare the primary focus, although Treyment decisions. one hour at a 2 gallons per acre rate. notes that a rescue application of insecti- What happens when you have a pic-Drones have evolved in both hard- cide on cutworms made all the differenceture and an understanding of the threats ware and software. They've gotten and a believerin one customer. and the start that each field gets, DiPaola bigger. The software has gotten easierWe had to wait a day for water toasks? Sure, it will make a farm more to use, more efficient, and functionsrecede off a cornfield that had cutworms.efficient and treatment more effective, more the way a farmer wants to use it,We couldnt even walk out in it, but withbut its deeper than that. When you have and they've gotten a lot easier to workthe drone, we just waited a day for thegood information and good content to on, Moreland says. Everything from thewater to drain so we could get soil andback it up, it brings people together, and parts to how the drones are being putplant contact and made our applicationthats really what makes Taranis unique. together is being done with the farmer inpass, he says. It would have been atWere creating prosperity, he says. mind, the construction is molded to howleast a week or more before a ground rigThe technology only needs the farmers operate. could have got in that field. planting date and field boundaries and For Trey and Shelby Neill, owners ofcan collect data on thousands of acres the Monroe City, Missouri, drone spray- Eye in the Sky daily. The imagery that is captured is so ing start-up, Prairie Queen AgridroneSpray drones are alleviating the painhigh-resolution, it can capture insects Solutions, that evolution, along with thepoints of crop spray applications, build- and insect damage on a single leaf and guided support and the education Agriing job opportunities with small, ruralallow an agronomist to easily distinguish Spray Drones offered, was the kick-startbusinesses, and creating on-farm revenuebetween a crop plant and weed to make they needed. Trey says that both he andfor the next generation of farmers.better sense of NDVI imaging. Shelby have watched what drones areScouting drones are strengtheningDiPaola says that Taranis delivers value delivering to the farm and made the deci- relationships and delivering new and on- to growers through unbiased, action-sion to add a T-30 and spray business togoing management opportunities to farmsable insights, more efficient resource use, complement their seed business. across the country, taking the tedious andhealthier crops that provide higher yield We got our drone May 10 (2022) andlabor-intensive human-element out of croppotential, and an overall better year-round then went to an on-site training that Agriscouting through advanced imaging.planning opportunity. And that the artifi-Spray Drones offered. We looked at threeDrones help agronomists scout morecial intelligence the company has devel-other drone companies that were actuallyacres with more detail, more quickly, andoped is not only industry-leading but cheaper, but after talking to them on thewith that information they can help farm- the unique piece of the service that truly phone, we found out pretty quick that weers make faster, more accurate manage- delivers efficiency and economic benefit werent going to have much support. ment decisions, says Mike DiPaola, chiefto farmers. OCTOBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /55"