NEWS

A heavy downpour would be a disaster for most field days. But the muddy mess was the perfect opportunity for Michael Ott, the CEO of Rantizo, to show off how a new system of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) work together to spray pesticides and seed crops.

“If you needed to spray today, you couldn’t with a ground rig,” said Ott, during a media day at the company proving grounds near Iowa City, Iowa. “But our drone systems can do it. People are realizing a drone can treat areas that tractors or self-propelled sprayers are not suitable for.” (…)

The successes of the initial drone usage in Chinese rice paddies are capturing the attention of other global farmers and creating new opportunities for Bayer to enable growers to use drones to enhance ag processes around the world.

In late 2020, Bayer additionally took a major step to introduce this pioneering drone technology to farmers throughout the U.S. by forming a strategic partnership with Rantizo – a software and applications developer whose platform integrates with drones to identify crop protection issues and deliver precise in-field crop input applications. (…)

As she pushed a button to bring the eight-propeller drone back to the ground, dandelion fluff swirling in the air, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst joked that she was ready for a job as a commercial fertilizer applicator.

“Do you have a contract you need to fulfill?” she asked Michael Ott, chief executive officer and founder of Rantizo, an agricultural drone company based in Iowa City. (…)

With the rise of precision agriculture solutions, the farming industry has become increasingly tech savvy. Many growers and producers have embraced GPS-enabled tractors, variable-rate fertilizer applications, and smart platforms that monitor everything from pest populations to yield performance.

Now, the latest drone technologies are improving another common farming task: fungicide applications. Drone systems company Rantizo is leading the charge. The company sells a turnkey system optimized for drone spraying and other applications that include autonomous drones, supporting equipment, and licensing and technical support. They work with a network of application services contractors and agribusinesses to supply them with everything needed to provide services such as variable applications of fungicides to growers. (…)

Optimism is a powerful force in agriculture. And thanks to a strong 2020 cropping season, solid grain demand from trading partners over the winter and spring, and a pandemic that appears to be receding nationwide, a long-overdue sense of positivity about the future has lifted a stubborn cloud of doubt and hesitancy that’s held back investment in technology innovation.

As CropLife magazine continues work in the inaugural Tech Hub LIVE Conference and Expo coming up this July in Des Moines, IA, we’re keeping track of the technology trends, products, and companies making moves that will impact retail business through the 2021 season and beyond. In this feature we will touch on some of the key storylines we’re watching through the spring and summer. (…)

Entering the 2021 growing season, it’s a different ballgame. We’ve sloughed off a boatload of ill-fated business ventures centered around drone technology. We’ve seen dramatic improvements in technology, in particular addressing the big pain point of collecting and stitching imagery efficiently.

Most importantly, drones are being inserted into in-season regimens where they can provide the most benefit, from pest detection to damage assessment to stand count. It’s not strictly about the drone and the data, it’s about the value provided to the end user for incorporating the drone application. Very little in ag technology can stand alone. (…)

Ag Partners Cooperative in Kansas is thinking about the big picture with technology advances and heading to the field with a smaller sized application technology. 

Rantizo CEO Michael Ott and Ethan Noll who heads up the digital ag efforts at Ag Partners, joined The Scoop podcast recently to share more about how drone applications are a fit for ag retailers. (…)

We might not be driving Jetson-envisioned flying cars yet, but in the past five years unmanned aerial systems, or drones, have merged from futuristic novelties into farm equipment. This crop season will bring swarms of drones that spray and seed cover crops – with a future as limitless as the horizon. 

Nick Williams of Parkston, S.D., launched Williams Drones last June and is looking forward to starting his first full summer work season. He purchased a swarm of three drones with spraying and spreading kits through a contract partnership with Rantizo, a turnkey agricultural drone service provide based out of Iowa City, Iowa, that provides everything, from hardware and software to training and licensing support, insurance and even customer leads. (…)

An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Michael Ott of Rantizo, which was honored as 2021 Best Tech Startups in Iowa. (…)

Michael Ott is the founder and CEO of Rantizo, an agtech startup that addresses both the field needs of farmers and the business needs of custom applicators with the platform’s combination of autonomous hardware and user-friendly software. Rantizo leverages both drone and aerial imagery technology to provide solutions to growers.

Michael joins us to talk about his background in investing and what led him to jump into entrepreneurship and start Rantizo. He shares how he has grown and scaled the business and the insights he has learned along the way. Don’t miss this one! (…)

Farmers that have embraced drones in their agricultural operations tend to use them for crop monitoring purposes but Iowa-based ag startup Rantizo thinks drones can do much more to help lessen the workload for farmers. The company utilizes autonomous sprayer drones for precise input application. Last summer, Rantizo became the first in the U.S. to receive FAA approval for nationwide swarming for agricultural spraying. (…)