Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, announced a global agreement with DroneDeploy to use DroneDeploy in its fleet of more than 400 DJI drones across the Company’s global Seed Production and Supply Chain, as well as its Pioneer Strategic Account Management and Agronomy teams in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Europe. DroneDeploy is the market leader in commercial drone software and aerial site intelligence for the construction and agriculture sectors.
“This agreement fortifies Corteva Agriscience as a leader in the use of advanced UAV technology,” said Jeremy Groeteke, Corteva Agriscience U.S. Digital Agriculture Lead. “The field intelligence technology will enable our Pioneer agronomy and strategic account management teams to work with farmers to provide real-time aerial views of their operation.”
The advanced mapping software from DroneDeploy combined with the expertise of Corteva Agriscience field teams offers immediate insights to diagnose and correct agronomic, disease or pest concerns, as well as to optimally place products. UAV operators can survey a 160-acre field in less than 15 minutes, quickly spotting variations in plant and soil health. Every operator will be trained on how best to harness the power of the aerial technology and will be certified according to local aviation regulations.
“We are also deploying the advanced UAV technology in our seed production network,” said Matt Kurtz, Corteva Agriscience Global Seed Technology Lead – Seed Production and Supply Chain. “We are aggressively evaluating and implementing decision agronomy tools like DroneDeploy to enable our agronomists and contract seed growers to make timely decisions impacting seed yields and quality.”
“Based on our market leader position, we are aware that Corteva Agriscience operates the largest agricultural drone fleet in the world1,” said Mike Winn, DroneDeploy CEO and co-founder. “Corteva Agriscience is now deploying the most advanced crop scouting technology on drones using DroneDeploy’s Live Map technology to deliver real-time crop insights and enabling immediate actions by their agronomists in the field.”
“This is an exciting time in the ag industry and the move will certainly strengthen and differentiate Corteva Agriscience from competitors,” Groeteke said. “When you couple this drone investment with our other digital offerings provided by Granular Ag and Encirca® services, we will provide growers with even more data so they can make timely, informed agronomic decisions.”
1DroneDeploy is the leading provider of commercial drone software for the construction and agriculture sectors, with Skylogic 2017 Market Sector survey indicating 47% market share among Agriculture drone users. 74% of global UAVs flown are made by DJI. Together they assert that they are unaware of another agricultural company deploying 400 or more drones globally.