AgEagle Aerial Systems, a provider of drone imagery and data analytics for the sustainable agriculture market, signed a significant specialty crop producer, packager and supplier in North America to its new sustainability platform and drone leasing program for the 2019 crop season.

As part of the agreement, AgEagle will provide access to UAVs equipped with sensors for the growing season, along with access to data connected services for farms covering thousands of acres in the U.S. AgEagle will also set up a network of soil moisture monitoring devices with rain gauges and solar sensors to provide in-depth data analytics at the field level. All of this will culminate in a sustainability dashboard and scorecard analyzing data to gauge soil health, water utilization efficiency and pest and disease control, which will enable this specialty crop producer to showcase its sustainability efforts to its customers and supply chain partners.

“We’re honored to officially launch our new sustainability platform and drone leasing program concurrent with the signing of a major customer,” said Barrett Mooney, CEO of AgEagle. “This launch marks an important milestone for the company as it positions AgEagle as more than just a manufacturer of UAVs, but a full-service provider for the sustainable ag market with opportunities to drive recurring revenue streams.

“Our goal with these new service offerings is to provide farmers and agribusinesses in the row crop and specialty markets with simple tools and services that enable them to make essential in-season decisions to enhance crop yield, while simultaneously evaluating those decisions for their sustainability initiatives.”

These new services create a unique value proposition for farmers and agribusinesses as they will no longer be required to incur significant up-front costs to begin collecting aerial imagery or sustainability analytics. Further, the turnkey solution relieves the customer from drone maintenance, support requirements and, in some cases, the need for a pilot as AgEagle can provide a trained UAV pilot to manage the entire image collection process. This enables the customer to focus on their core business – the farm.

Mooney continued: “We’ve been slowly introducing this turnkey solution to potential customers over the last few weeks, and initial demand is strong. In fact, we are already engaged in several discussions with other potential agricultural customers looking to improve their sustainability initiatives. We look forward to executing on our fast-growing pipeline and carrying this momentum into the 2019 crop season.”