First it was row crops, then pasture land. Now TerrAvion is expanding their aerial imaging services to include the citrus industry of Florida. Their first flights pass over the sunshine state this week.
Florida is the nation’s number 1 producer of oranges and sugarcane. Its 9.5 million acres of farmland employ 2 million people and agriculture is the number 2 contributor to Florida’s GDP, behind tourism.
TerrAvion provides current images and data that help growers spot early-warning signs such as plant health issues and irrigation problems so they can take action before emerging problems become big ones. Every week, TerrAvion takes hundreds of low-altitude flights to capture bird’s-eye views of farms, and then uploads the images to the cloud within hours so growers can plan scouting, management activities and interventions with unprecedented accuracy. TerrAvion imagery is much more detailed and up-to-date than satellite imagery, and far more cost effective than drone-based services. TerrAvion customers receive not only data but also aerial photographs, NVDI images, thermal images, custom color maps and histograms, at resolutions tight enough to see individual leaves on plants.
Founder Steve Maxwell said, “There are great products in the Precision Ag market that can really help our customers increase yield while reducing inputs. The cornerstone to our program is high-quality imagery. TerrAvion’s expansion to Florida has made these products affordable for even the smallest of growers. TerrAvion’s nationwide footprint has allowed us to expand to all of our customer base, coast to coast.”
The expansion was driven by requests from companies like Highland Precision Ag and Propak, creators of Citrus Pro. Founder Robert Morris, a former U.S. Army drone platoon leader responded to that request, saying, “There’s a huge grower community in Florida, and they are very tech savvy and open to trying new things. We are seeing strong interest from growers all across the state.”
