Raven was founded in Sioux Falls, SD in 1956. The company originated as a designer and manufacturer of high-altitude research balloons to solve challenges related to space exploration. From that single product line, they have evolved into an extremely diversified technology company.
Raven Applied Technology
Raven Applied Technology was created in 1978 and has helped to create, define, and redefine precision agriculture practices and technology. In today's agriculture industry when the topic of precision agronomy comes up - there is no doubt that Raven Industries will be discussed, as well. The two go hand-in-hand. From field computers, application controls, guidance/steering/wireless connectivity, and cloud-based data management, Raven is at the cutting edge of some fascinating technology.
This innovator offers tremendous resources to the industry, as well. For instance, take their technical support website Ravenprecision and recognize the amount of information that is available at your fingertips. From locating dealers, product support, to groundbreaking news you will find it all here.
Drones
Raven Applied Technology announced a partnership with AgEagle Aerial Systems early this year. AgEagle Aerial Systems is a leading provider of unmanned aerial systems technology that is used in precision agronomy. Drones are becoming more of the farming community and faster than one would think. Raven has aligned themselves as the exclusive distributor for AgEagle and their RX60 fixed-wing UAV.
During flight, the RX60 captures aerial images of the field and can identify crop health in each and every field it passes over. This is accomplished through special camera lenses and software that can correlate crop pigmentation into plant health. For instance, one measure of plant health is the amount of green pigmentation that is present in the plant.
If the plant has more of a yellowish hue this identifies with nitrogen leach or nitrogen deficiency. A farmer can easily see this when crops are smaller. However, when crops get above shoulder height it is extremely difficult to monitor this - that's where UAVs come into the picture.
Many people in the agriculture industry recognize the actionable data that drones can provide. For this reason, many people understand that drones will continue to impact the agriculture industry and Raven feels that they are aligning themselves in a great position to re-solidify their position as a cutting edge technology provider.
