Step into the future of successful farm management with Advexure and Aerobotics’ new solution

By João Antunes

Last month, Advexure, a US drone solutions provider, and Aerobotics, a company specializing in precision agriculture analytics, launched a new package to provide farmers with a comprehensive solution for precision farming. Starting at $4,618, the package combines DJI’s Mavic 3 Multispectral (M3M) with Aerobotics’ Aeroview platform.

Unveiled in 2022, DJI’s M3M, the third commercial drone within the Mavic 3 series, is equipped with a 20MP RGB camera along with four 5MP (green, red, red edge, and near-infrared) multispectral cameras to scan and analyze crop growth with total clarity. Featuring a built-in sunlight sensor and an RTK module for centimeter-level positioning, the M3M captures more accurate NDVI results, while improving the accuracy and consistency of data acquired over time and enabling high-precision aerial surveys without ground control points. The drone also features a 43-minute battery when flying at cruise speed, allowing growers to map hundreds of hectares in a day since the M3M can map an entire 500-acre field in a single flight.

"The DJI M3M has opened the doors to countless new operators in the agriculture industry due to its ease of use, compact size, and affordability,″ said Cody Thomas, VP of Business Development at Advexure. ″Now tie that in with the leading software for permanent crop analytics, and you have an incredibly simple solution that brings tremendous value for those growers."

Aerobotics’ Aeroview web-based platform works as a centralized hub for farming with a range of tools and insights to optimize agricultural operations. Identifying areas with nutrient deficiencies, pest infestations, diseases, or irrigation issues faster, as well as detecting irrigation problems automatically and managing hardware maintenance more effectively are some of the advantages Aeroview provides its users. Moreover, users can also use it to find tree gaps and underperforming areas to plan and manage replanting programs and maximize return on investment, monitor a farm in real-time with immediate in-field reports to make swift decisions and intervene before pest or disease pressure increases, and more.

Using Aerobotics’ platform and a variable rate application (VRA) mulching strategy, See Saw Wines, a sustainable wine grapes producer, was able to apply corrective measures and increase vineyard performance within two years. The average farm vigor increased from 0.38 to 0.75 NDVI, and health increased from 0.14 to 0.29 NDRE between 2019 and 2021. Kriegler Farms, a table grapes producer for premium local retailers and export markets, used Aeroview and a VRA fertilizer strategy to reduce fertilizer and ameliorant inputs by 75,208 lbs, resulting in a cost savings of $18 per acre. It also increased yield by 9% (20,000 cartons) and generated an additional $136,864 in revenue.

Together with DJI’s M3M, Aeroview can easily transform the drone-collected high-resolution images into actionable insights, providing a holistic view of an orchard's health and positioning farmers for maximum yield. ″This solution provides growers all over the world with access to a cost-effective precision agriculture solution, giving growers the ability to monitor and track each tree on the farm, and the tools to action the data in the field," shared James Paterson, Aerobotics CEO.