PrecisionHawk and Agri-Trend announced today that they will partner to offer PrecisionHawk’s UAV data collection, sensing and analysis tools to farmers in the U.S. and Canada through Agri-Trend, a network of agricultural coaches. The partnership represents the first large-scale drone program for farming in the U.S.

This year, the partnership will offer UAV services throughout regions of Canada using trained individuals with the objective to roll out a full commercialization service model in 2016.

PrecisionHawk unmanned aerial systems will collect the data, and Agri-Trend will offer the data management side to help growers understand and apply the data to their decision making processes throughout the growing season.

“Scaling comes from things being seamless and simple. It is our belief that to reach true field level value, these products need to be captured and delivered cost effectively through automated processes, on-board UAV intelligence, and by many different individuals, including both Coaches and Farmers,” said Rob Saik, Agri-Trend Founder and CEO, in a release.

The integration of PrecisionHawk’s DataMapper cloud-based storage system into the Agri-Data Solution Platform will be optimized in the first phase. This DataMapper/Agri-Data integration will allow farmers to aggregate and analyze data coming from a multitude of sources in order to make better decisions more quickly and efficiently. The expectation is to provide growers with full integration of orders, delivery and processing from a range of UAV platforms in 2016.

“This relationship combines the best aerial and software data technology to provide Agri-Trend farmers with next-generation data products that extend far beyond a traditional NDVI,” said Christopher Dean, PrecisionHawk CEO, in the release.

As part of the partnership, Agri-Trend will offer PrecisionHawk’s UAV platform, suite of sensors and Data Software and Data Mapper, to its corporate partners, consultants and coaches.

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