ADM Plans For Innovative Aerial Drone Technology

In an industry first, Archer Daniels Midland’s crop insurance provider, Crop Risk Service (ADM CRS) has been granted approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, in order to increase the efficiency of its insurance claims processing. The technology employed will not only include the drones themselves, but also the software that will integrate the information collected into the group’s existing Aeros suite of claims software.

ADM’s UAVs will be able to quantify damaged acreage, calculate corn stand counts and wind-blown or green snap acreage, document hail damage, and record prevented planting acreage, or acreage without vegetation. ADM is also currently developing proprietary software that will enable the UAVs to download measurements and images in real time to allow for the immediate processing of claims.

“We are tremendously excited to start showing this state-of-the-art system to our customers,” Greg Mills, president of ADM CRS tells Feed and Grain. “We’ll be offering something no one else in the industry can offer, and the farmers we serve will be the ones who benefit.”