Actionable insights from agricultural drone imageryhttps://solvi.ag/blog/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-mas-seeds-uses-drone-imagery-for-more-efficient-assessment-of-field-trials/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-mas-seeds-uses-drone-imagery-for-more-efficient-assessment-of-field-trials/Variety trials require massive data collection and precise analysis—often the biggest bottleneck in scaling research. MAS Seeds, a leading provider of hybrid crops, turned to drone technology to accelerate and improve their field assessments.Wed, 07 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/plant-focus-a-new-tool-for-more-accurate-plant-health-analysis/https://solvi.ag/blog/plant-focus-a-new-tool-for-more-accurate-plant-health-analysis/Plant Focus masks out soil, weeds and grass using a vegetation index or PlantAI detections, so plant health maps and plot statistics reflect only the crop.Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/university-of-florida-corn-contest-puts-precision-agriculture-in-growers-hands/https://solvi.ag/blog/university-of-florida-corn-contest-puts-precision-agriculture-in-growers-hands/Precision ag technology, like drone imagery, holds great potential to improve production efficiency, but most growers want to see the proof in the pudding before investing time and money. So what’s the best way to make on-farm technology accessible?Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/counting-and-measuring-cabbage-heads-for-yield-estimates-with-drones/https://solvi.ag/blog/counting-and-measuring-cabbage-heads-for-yield-estimates-with-drones/Traditionally, growers based harvest timing on visual observations or sample field measurements. But most growers would like a faster, more objective means of evaluating harvest readiness and head size. Plant Counts with size estimation from Solvi gives growers a simple protocol to automate the process.Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/mapping-tomato-field-for-plant-counts-with-mavic-3-multispectral/https://solvi.ag/blog/mapping-tomato-field-for-plant-counts-with-mavic-3-multispectral/When DJI’s new Mavic 3 Multispectral drone landed in the market, a lot of heads turned. We decided to take a deep dive to see what’s making it so popular and see how it performs in precision agriculture research like plant counting and field analysis.Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/drone-based-plant-counts-with-ai-how-it-works/https://solvi.ag/blog/drone-based-plant-counts-with-ai-how-it-works/There are two basic approaches to plant counts: manual (row sampling) and image-based (computer-powered). They may return the same type of data, but the methodology and uses are worlds apart. Which one should you choose?Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/how-ncsu-uses-drone-plant-counts-in-study-to-guide-replant-decision-in-cotton/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-ncsu-uses-drone-plant-counts-in-study-to-guide-replant-decision-in-cotton/North Carolina State University researchers conducted a two-year study to better understand cotton replanting recommendations using UAVs (drones) to count plant populations and, more importantly, skips.Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/next-version-of-plantai-is-here/https://solvi.ag/blog/next-version-of-plantai-is-here/We are excited to announce the release of PlantAI 2.0 featuring more detailed plant-level analytics, support for multiple-crop detections, row and gap analysis, and moreWed, 16 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/5-common-drone-plant-counts-mistakes-to-avoid/https://solvi.ag/blog/5-common-drone-plant-counts-mistakes-to-avoid/How to avoid and correct the five most common plant counting mistakes for fast, highly accurate crop stand counts.Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/which-vegetation-index-should-i-use/https://solvi.ag/blog/which-vegetation-index-should-i-use/Vegetation indices are valuable precision agriculture tools to assess crop health, yield potential, and other variables that drive informed farm management decisions. Choosing the right vegetation index is vital for accurate results but depends upon camera hardware, environmental conditions, crop type and growth stage.Fri, 10 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/how-slu-researchers-use-drones-to-develop-large-scale-models-for-variable-rate-nitrogen-reates-in-winter-wheat/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-slu-researchers-use-drones-to-develop-large-scale-models-for-variable-rate-nitrogen-reates-in-winter-wheat/To make precision agriculture more accessible, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is developing decision support tools to aid growers in winter wheat fertility management. These ongoing projects are powered by drone sensor-based models.Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/the-agronomists-time-saver-drone-plant-counts/https://solvi.ag/blog/the-agronomists-time-saver-drone-plant-counts/Plant counts are an essential part of precision agriculture’s expanding dataset. But the traditional error-prone row plant estimates are an unreliable relic. Transform small-scale sampling into an accurate full-field inventory with drone plant counts.Thu, 13 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/how-high-should-i-fly-an-agricultural-drone/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-high-should-i-fly-an-agricultural-drone/How high to fly a drone for agricultural field mapping is a common question among pilots. Since drone altitude impacts the resulting stitched image quality (and metrics available), getting it right can improve your crop datasets and reduce data losses or the need for reflights.Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/rijk-zwaan-uses-drone-plant-counts-to-accelerate-vegetable-trials/https://solvi.ag/blog/rijk-zwaan-uses-drone-plant-counts-to-accelerate-vegetable-trials/Breeding new vegetable varieties can take between 6-16 years of rigorous evaluation before a package of traits is expressed stably enough for commercial release. To expedite their breeding pipeline, Rijk Zwaan adopted drone imagery to assist in characterizing phenotypes of promising breeding lines and to document their volumes of vegetable trials.Wed, 10 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/how-to-process-and-optimize-quality-of-multispectral-imagery-from-micasense-sensors/https://solvi.ag/blog/how-to-process-and-optimize-quality-of-multispectral-imagery-from-micasense-sensors/5 Critical data quality factors to consider when choosing a drone imagery processing platform for multispectral data from MicaSense sensors.Wed, 20 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/scaling-multispectral-drone-data-in-agricultural-trials/https://solvi.ag/blog/scaling-multispectral-drone-data-in-agricultural-trials/The Danish Technological Institute uses Solvi’s multispectral drone image-stitching and data processing in their agricultural research analytics to evaluate volumes of field data fast.Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/3-ways-to-extract-research-plot-boundaries-from-agricultural-drone-imagery/https://solvi.ag/blog/3-ways-to-extract-research-plot-boundaries-from-agricultural-drone-imagery/Learn how to streamline the process of creating research plot boundaries with a simple user interface to visually create plot boundaries, quickly render statistics, and export results.Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/digitizing-field-data-in-sugar-beet-trials-with-drones/https://solvi.ag/blog/digitizing-field-data-in-sugar-beet-trials-with-drones/Case study: how Nordic Beet Research uses drone imagery to inspect 10,000 sugar beet trial plots more efficiently and make trial data more objective.Wed, 09 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/establishing-management-zones-for-irrigation-efficiency-in-fruit-orchard/https://solvi.ag/blog/establishing-management-zones-for-irrigation-efficiency-in-fruit-orchard/A mango grower decreased hydric tree stress by 18% during critical fruiting stages while reducing overall water consumption 50% by establishing unique management zones from Solvi's drone analytics. Wed, 03 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/improve-vegetable-profitability-and-reduce-crop-loss-with-drone-plant-counts/https://solvi.ag/blog/improve-vegetable-profitability-and-reduce-crop-loss-with-drone-plant-counts/Drone plant counts give vegetable growers a whole-field view of stand loss and plant size, to pinpoint problem areas, predict yield and plan harvest labor.Thu, 08 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/maximize-your-corn-harvest-with-drone-plant-counts/https://solvi.ag/blog/maximize-your-corn-harvest-with-drone-plant-counts/Crop stand establishment directly affects yield. But often we don’t know what this season’s or any field’s limiting factor is.Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/plant-level-crop-monitoring-with-plantai/https://solvi.ag/blog/plant-level-crop-monitoring-with-plantai/Solvi Plant Counts now powered by Plant AI™ converts plant-level drone data into actionable crop insights in minutes.Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/5-ways-to-use-drones-for-spring-crop-scouting/https://solvi.ag/blog/5-ways-to-use-drones-for-spring-crop-scouting/Drones are an effective crop scouting tool for vegetable and grain farmers to assess plant health and guide management decisions to improve crop performance.Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/drones-and-scissors-help-decide-fertilizer-rate/https://solvi.ag/blog/drones-and-scissors-help-decide-fertilizer-rate/Weighing green biomass and scanning the field with a drone is a simple, fast, and cheap way to optimize nitrogen application for winter oilseed crops.Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/variable-rate-seeding-with-drone-imagery/https://solvi.ag/blog/variable-rate-seeding-with-drone-imagery/Learn how using drone imagery to map variations in crop establishment can help create variable rate seeding files for the following seasons.Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/better-nitrogen-application-in-winter-wheat-with-drones/https://solvi.ag/blog/better-nitrogen-application-in-winter-wheat-with-drones/Nitrogen application is one of the key actions that growers take to ensure stable crop development. Learn how drone imagery can help create prescription files to ensure the right amount of fertilizer is applied in the right place.Fri, 26 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/announcing-support-for-micasense-altum-and-thermal-imagery/https://solvi.ag/blog/announcing-support-for-micasense-altum-and-thermal-imagery/Support for the all-new MicaSense Altum multispectral sensor, including new thermal data visualization, has landed in Solvi!Wed, 12 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://solvi.ag/blog/introducing-zonal-statistics-and-trial-plot-extraction-tools/https://solvi.ag/blog/introducing-zonal-statistics-and-trial-plot-extraction-tools/We are excited to announce Zonal Statistics and Trial Plot extraction tools for more effective plant phenotyping, breeding, and research.Thu, 22 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT