Increasing profit, reducing risk, and saving time
Imagery for Farm and Ranch
Topics
● TerrAvion who we are
● What is high re-visit aerial imagery?
● Differentiation: Frequent + Fast = Real Control
● Growers profit, reduce risk, and save time
● Agronomists recommend better, faster, and with more focus
Swords to ploughshares
Our history is service
Genesis:
Drone Video for Army Staff
2007 – Ghazni, Afghanistan
Our unique insight:
visual control of
operations
You can’t effectively fight problems
you can’t see
Main competitor to imagery is
trusted officers driving around in a
truck (both in defense and
agriculture)
Reality:
TerrAvion Map of Crop Difference
2015 – Salinas, California
TerrAvion Heritage: Service to Operators
2006
2013
2014-2015
Inspiration
Development
Specialty Crops
TerrAvion’s founder
& CEO leads Army
drone platoon in
Afghanistan
Carnegie Mellon
engineering and Y
Combinator
technology
Weekly service
across West Coast
and South America
Focus: imagery to
control operation
Focus: 90%+ price
reduction
Focus: wine grapes
and specialty crops
2016-2017
Irrigated Crops
TerrAvion expands
to support ag retail
partners
Focus: corn, soy,
and cotton
Aerial Imagery to Control Farm Operations
What we do and how it works
Visual Control Makes Better
Factories (and Better Farms)
How is this done:
Hardware + software + operations + API = imagery as a service
16:00 Landing
08:00 Takeoff
05:00 User login
17:00 Upload & processing
23:00 QA & delivery
• We fly rented planes over our customers’ farms.
• We build our own sensors that detect: imagery, plus chlorophyll density and water transpiration.
• NASA Landsat (#1 scientific remote sensing platform) cost $100M+. Our equipment: 100x better resolution, we build for $50K each.
• We process the data (1TB per plane per day) in the cloud overnight, and farmers get it over the web, mobile, and iPad.
Growers count on many more images at much
higher resolution from fixed wing vs satellite
Satellite does not work for visual control, stand counting, or open canopy crop forecasting & is not
reliable due to those pesky clouds
LANDSAT
TerrAvion
Background LANDSAT image captured during same cycle as TerrAvion image
TerrAvion is the lowest cost for growers
What’s wrong with this picture?
Best Value for Creating Grower Value
Why we are different
What’s it worth?
Tony Vertolli
Viticulture technician,
Constellation Brands
“[You’re] able to see specific
management practices, and the
effect they have on the imagery,
aka, the vines”
Lise Asimont
Viticulturalist, Francis Ford
Coppola Winery
“Before I started using TerrAvion I
really thought I was a Rock star
with my irrigation practices… we
realized we weren’t as good as we
thought we were.”
Jasen Gibbons
Corn Grower, Eastern
Washington
“You can’t hide anything -- you
can’t hide mistakes.
If you can see those mistakes, you
can improve [your agricultural
practices].”
You
Tangible Grower Use Cases
Reduce risk
See problems before they spread. Track them until they require action
Low vigor due to:
Thermal anomalies due to:
Pests
Clogged emitters
Disease
Broken regulators
Water Stress
Uneven/unbalanced emitters
Nutrition Stress
Water Leaks
Emergence Issues
Uneven moisture levels
2
What do you
harvest /
treat
together?
1
2013
2
1
2014
Increase profit
Reduce risk
Save time
Measure & Analyze
Growers who know
manage better
● Irrigation
● Fertility
● Crop Protection
● Labor & Equipment
● Management & Scouting
● Forecasting & Planning
Fix uneven, clogged, or damaged irrigation
React to Uneven Plant Development with Fertility and Irrigation
A yellow spot on the map
See disease,
intervene, and
monitor
Shows the extent of a viral
infection
Allocate your time and your
people to the biggest issues
Solve problems invisible from the road
Driscoll’s Santa Maria Strawberry Field
Driscoll’s Agronomy
Strawberries have many
advantages
• Tiny fields
• Concentrated regions
• Intensively managed
• Easy to see over
Even in Strawberries, Aerial
Imagery is beneficial in
showing problems
Or make a real plan to cheaply monitor and save inputs on problem
areas
Guide sampling and forecast your output
Vigor
Acres
0.2
1.7
5.8
7.6
9.8
31.7
0.1
Forecast
Demonstrated ROI Examples
Grapes, Harvest Zones For Differential Harvesting
ina Sonoma
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caption to your image
Aerial Imagery Enables Differential Harvesting
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Potential Results:
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$1141 per acre in increased revenue due to
optimized harvest planning
Situation:
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Uneven field vigor results in mixed quality
grape harvest.
Action:
○
Use NDVI to create sampling and harvest
zones. Create harvest plan. Harvest
differentially.
ROI:
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ROI = 38X
○
ROI = [((1.00*($2411)) (0.75*($2411) + 0.25*($1300)]
*4 tons/acre / 30 $/year
Key Assumptions:
○
4 Tons / acre harvested
○
Low value grapes = $1300 / ton
○
High value grapes = $2441 / ton
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Harvested zoning increases grape quality by
picking based on vine stress
○
Picking by vine stress increases value by 25%
per acre
Grapes, Soil Sampling, Sonoma
Sampling Zones
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Potential Results:
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1.53 X ROI through the reduction of soil
samples early in the season
Situation:
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Current methods of capturing soil samples
include random methods, capturing samples
on spatial distribution
Action:
○
Monitor NDVI to guide sampling decisions
ROI:
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ROI = 1.53X
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ROI = [1 sample per 3 acres x 100 acres = 33
samples] ; [69% reduction in samples = 10
samples] ; 200.00 per sample x 33 samples =
$6600 vs 200.00 per sample x 10 samples =
2000.00 ; 6600/2000 = 3.3 ; 100 acres @
$30/acre subscription = 3000 ; (diff = 4600)/
$3000 = 1.53
Key Assumptions:
○
1 soil sample per year, @ $200.00 per
○
1 sample per 3 acres
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Using imagery, possible 69% reduction in
samples needed
Grapes, Travel in Multiple Vineyards, Sonoma
Aerial Imagery Enables Travel Prioritization
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Potential Results:
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$7 per acre in savings due to decreased
travel time and mileage expense
Situation:
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Manager visits all vineyards weekly to
evaluate health and progress
Action:
○
Manager is able to reduce travel by using
aerial imagery to identify vineyards that
don’t need in-person visit
ROI:
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ROI = 0.7X
○
ROI = [($0.55/mile x 5 miles x 10 visits/week
x 20 weeks) + ($40/hr x .5 hours x 10
visits/week x 20 weeks) x 30% cost
savings]/[$10/acre x 200 acres]
Key Assumptions:
○
Manager Wage = $40/hour
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Mileage Allowance = $0.55/mile
○
10 vineyard blocks (20 acres each), located
within 5 miles from each other
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20 weekly visits during growing season
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30% travel savings due to imagery use
Grapes, Frost prevention, Sonoma
Relative Temperature map
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Clogged Sprinkler Difficult to
See
Clogged Sprinkler Revealed
by Thermal Image
Potential Results:
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$260 / acre loss prevention
Situation:
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Frost damage will reduce annual yield
50-100%, depending on grape varietal.
Wind machines cost $30k, and
helicopters are $900 / hour
Action:
○
A heat distribution map will show the
relative nighttime temperature of the
vineyard, and allow for a combined,
comprehensive, and cost effective
strategy
ROI:
○
ROI = 10X in small scale prevention, plus
2-3000x ROI in frost management plan
optimization
Key Assumptions:
○
Frost flight on a 40-acre field costs $26 /
acre
○
Losses of 5% in a frost event (10% frostdamage) would result in a net loss of
$260/acre
○
Optimizing could reduce prevention
costs by thousands of dollars
Agronomist Benefits
Scaling the reach of agronomic expertise and recommendation
Report from 2016 Agronomists, PCAs, and Tech Specialists
Subscription imagery programs:
● Benefit the grower
● Can be sold by retailers in the agronomic inputs basket
● Help move other products by showing need
The Future
Many new indices under development
“True” Crop Water and Nutrition Stress Indications
Integration with Top Analytics Providers
Stand Counting and Harvest Estimation at Sub 5cm Resolution
Forecasting: Counting
Questions?
Bob Westbrook | Senior Vice President | [email protected]