Archer Daniels Midland Co. plans to use drones to
gather data on crop insurance claims as soon as the summer of 2016, its risk
services head told Reuters news agency.
ADM's Crop Risk Services Inc. won clearance to use
drones earlier this month from the Federal Aviation Administration, which
currently bans their commercial use, and will begin testing the technology in
the U.S. Midwest this year.
The unmanned aircraft can gather data about crop
damage from hail, wind, flooding and drought, and automatically upload the
information to the company's claims software, Greg Mills, president of ADM CRS,
said in a telephone interview.
The company is one of a small number of businesses
with agriculture connections, including Monsanto Co's Climate Corp and Trimble
Navigation Ltd, that have received exemptions to the FAA's ban on commercial
use.
Meanwhile, it’s no secret that the Canadian Wheat
Board has used satellites for decades to check crop acreages and conditions in
all of the nations where it has markets and competitors.
