Aksata’s drone-based precision agriculture technology is helping growers worldwide manage pests and treat crops, as the agtech company expands into new markets following its success in Israel, Ari Eisenberg, the company’s chief operating officer, told AgTechNavigator.
Launched in 2020, Aksata developed nine drone models designed to spray specialty crops, like lettuce, grapes, and nuts, as opposed to traditional crop dusters that focus on row crops, Eisenberg explained. The company developed nozzles and a pump mechanism to precisely apply ointmentlike crop treatments, ensuring these products are used as intended and effectively, he added.
“We have [drones that are] releasing ointment in very small quantity ─ three grams per acre ─ because the pheromone is so concentrated. [A grower] only wanted three grams per acre, which is a huge concentration of very small quantities. But if they are not spacing it properly with that precision, which is what we are doing, then the product efficacy drops or does nothing,” Eisenberg elaborated.
Farmers not only gain the benefit of using products as intended, but drone-based precision offers cost-saving benefits at a time that many farmers are countering rising input costs and labour challenges, Eisenberg noted.
“The labour is cheaper on a drone, and we can do more than a human can do. And, oftentimes, you are saving on product due to the precision,” he said.
Aksata is expanding beyond its initial markets of Israel and the UK, after successfully working with government entities, Eisenberg noted. Aksata helped the Israeli government cover more than 170,000 acres of citrus groves to manage Mediterranean fruit fly, the company shared in a press release.
Aksata expands digital capabilities
As part of its product offering, Aksata provides a digital portal for users, where growers can monitor the flight path of drones and monitor spraying in real-time, Eisenberg said. Aksata is developing its digital capabilities, with the help of APIs with other agtech platforms, so growers can better respond to pests and crop diseases, he added.
“All this data collection is provided to growers, and the growers say, ‘Okay, now, what can I do with it?’ So, there is a deficiency here. So, we have an API capability to have the dialogue between the analytics and us. So, if a company comes and does a field scan in whatever system they are using and identifies a pest, or there is a deficiency of some sort in a particular quadrant in multi-1,000s of acres, we are the response to that,” Eisenberg elaborated.
