NEWS

See this creative and flexible solution for farmers to plant cover crops and apply inputs using swarm drones. (…)

At the 2020 Farm Journal Field Days in-person event in Jesup, Iowa, attendees got an up close look at the latest technology in drones used for agricultural applications. 

Startup Rantizo is the first and only company to gain legal approval for swarm applications of drones in ag, and the team was on-hand with their machines to demonstrate both aerial spraying and aerial seeding. (…)

Michael Ott is the CEO and founder of Rantizo. He was at Farm Journal Field Days presenting his product of using drones for various applications on crops. He joins us today to talk about this operation. (…)

Rantizo was founded in 2018 by Michael Ott who previously started a company that delivered small amounts of nitrogen precisely on rice seeds. The idea for Rantizo came from that concept; precisely delivering inputs in the field when it was needed. (…)

You can categorize drone use in agricultural into two buckets—for imagery and for application.

“Drones aren’t toys—they are tools,” says Michael Ott, CEO of Rantizo. 

Rantizo just received approval for swarming—up to three drones in a single field for application. Swaming Rantizo drones can apply up to 40 acres an hour. 

“Previously, our typical jobs were 5 to 30 acre fields, but with swarming, we’ll see much larger fields—80 to 200 acre jobs,” Ott says. (…)

Whether it’s for examining high-voltage power lines and natural gas pipelines, or seeding and spraying crops in a field, drones are getting a lot of attention, in Iowa and elsewhere.

Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, have evolved from an experimental technology to a legitimate replacement for traditional human methods in many applications. (…)

Farmers and cover crop businesses reached out to ask how well cover crop seed would pass through damaged corn to reach the soil. To evaluate whether seed could get through damaged corn canopy, Practical Farmers conducted a demonstration using Rantizo’s cover crop drone. (…)

Rantizo secures FAA approval for multiple UAVs and drives greater autonomy and efficiency in crop protection application by air. CEO Michael Ott shares this latest company news with AgriBusiness Global Editor David Frabotta. (…)

When a major league sports facility contacted Rantizo, an Iowa City-based agtech startup providing drone spraying for fields, CEO and co-founder Michael Ott hadn’t yet considered how his company could provide COVID-19 related services. But spraying down a large venue with sanitizing agents, instead of agricultural agents, seemed to match perfectly. (…)

Rantizo has announced it is now approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for operation of multiple drone swarms nationwide.

With this waiver, Rantizo is able to Fly & Apply in rural areas up to the field border and will not be limited to a specific geographic area. (…)

Rantizo announced this week that they are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for operation of multiple drone swarms nationwide. This waiver allows for the safe operation of three autonomous drone sprayers by a single pilot and one visual observer.

“Our vision is to Fly & Apply on large areas with autonomous drone sprayers, so swarming is a critical component,” said Rantizo CEO Michael Ott through a press release. (…)

Iowa City-based startup Rantizo has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for operation of multiple drone swarms nationwide.

With this approval, Rantizo is now able to operate in rural areas up to the field border and will not be limited to a specific geographic area. The company also says that its drone application productivity will increase to ~40 acres per hour, nearly tripling the current rate of 14 acres per hour. In tandem with a soon-to-be-released Mix & Fill auto-tendering station, Rantizo productivity is expected to reach around 60 acres per hour before the end of the summer. (…)