Yield forecasting
Count what is actually out there
Drones count plants, fruit or ears and turn the counts into a yield estimate for each part of the field.
What this costs today
Harvest planning, storage booking and forward selling all run on an estimate, and the estimate usually comes from a hand count in a few square metres extrapolated across a hundred hectares. A bad estimate books the wrong number of trailers and sells grain that is not there.
How the flight runs
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Fly low
A high resolution pass captures individual plants, ears or fruit at a density the model can count.
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Count
Objects are counted per square metre and the counts are aggregated by zone rather than averaged flat.
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Model
Counts are combined with your variety, row spacing and historical yields to produce an estimate range.
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Update
The forecast is re-run on each later flight, so the range narrows as harvest approaches.
What the aircraft carries
- High resolution RGB camera
- Multispectral camera
- RTK positioning
Once at establishment, then at two or three points through grain fill or fruit set.
What you receive
- Plant or fruit count per zone
- Yield estimate with a range
- Establishment gap map
- Harvest sequencing suggestion
What it measures
Readings this capability produces on your fields. Measurements, not promises.
- Counted objects per square metre
- Estimate range width
- Gap area as a share of the field
- Estimate against final weighbridge
Where this carries the most weight
All use cases-
Winter wheat and barley
Establishment gaps, patchy weed pressure, septoria risk and a nitrogen plan that has to follow the field, not a flat rate.
Blocks of 10 to 120 hectares, flown as one route.
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Maize
Establishment counts, early weed competition, corn borer pressure and flocks working the cobs at ripening.
Blocks of 5 to 80 hectares, with deterrence stations on the blocks under pressure.
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Orchards
Fruit counting for the pack house booking, blossom frost protection, tree by tree health, and birds at ripening.
Blocks of 1 to 40 hectares.
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Cooperatives and large estates
Fleet coverage across scattered blocks, comparable numbers between holdings, and reporting that rolls up cleanly.
2,000 to 40,000 hectares across scattered member blocks.
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Soft fruit and berries
Picking forecasts for labour planning, irrigation uniformity under tunnels, bird pressure and frost on early varieties.
Blocks of 0.5 to 15 hectares, open field and tunnels.