The unmanned aerial vehicle industry is on a roll, and with impending new rules from the Federal Aviation Administration coming to the market sometime in 2016, companies are positioning themselves for use of these new tools. Raven Industries has announced its Applied Technology division has been named worldwide exclusive distribution partner for AgEagle Aerial Systems, a Kansas-based provider of unmanned aerial systems for precision agriculture.

According to a media release the partnership will allow Raven to "expand into the UAS market by enhancing its product offering to provide actionable data that customer can use to make important input and variable rate decisions."

The AgEagle aircraft captures aerial maps of crop health in a field, identifying stress areas and providing real-time, easy to acquire data for farmers. The UAS system helps growers, and consultants, pinpoint areas where nutrients or chemicals need to be applied. The images can be imported and used by a range of software platforms.

In the media release, Brian Meyer, division vice president and general manager, Raven Applied Technology, commented: "[AgEagle and Raven] will help make crop health data actionable and relevant, which in turn will help decrease inputs and increase yields for growers. That’s what Raven has always been about—helping the customer do more with less."

Adds Bret Chilcott, CEO, AgEagle Aerial Systems: "We believe this partnership is a tremendous validation of our team and our products. Raven and AgEagle have the same focus, mission and passion, and together, through the use of better actionable data for the growers, we will effect change in feeding the world."

Learn more at ravenprecision.com.

Source: Raven Industries