Latvian startup AirBoard Inc. has announced the launch of AirBoard AGRO – the first agricultural aerial platform designed for industry-level reliability and precision spraying for vineyards. This aerial pesticide spraying platform will be especially useful in steep and mountainous vineyards.
The primary challenge any vineyard cultivation and business faces is preventing powdery mildew from forming on the vines. While the conventional methods to combat this were either manual labour or the use of helicopters to spray fungicide, both potions had their drawbacks. Fungicide spray by Helicopters does not come cheap neither does it rank high on the precision index either. Using Manual labour would mean workers walking through vineyards (could lead to soil compaction) with heavy 20kg or so backpacks plus their prolonged exposure to chemicals is risky. Vineyard owners in Germany spend 25,000 EUR / 10 ha annually for pesticide spraying with a helicopter.
AirBoard AGRO the gen next aerial vehicle provides a solution to all these challenges and more with its specialized features:
All these properties put together help sustain better root growth as soil compaction by footfall is eliminated and also helps avoid health risks to workers, besides precision spraying will help reduce use of excess fertilizers/pesticides leading to a more natural crop eventually. Thanks to the use of AirBoard AGRO-its user/ vineyard owner will be able to focus better on their business and worry lesser about the challenges. Not only is AirBoard AGRO less noisy being powered by electricity makes it is 100% environment friendly too. It is backed by Alchemist Accelerator – ranked #1 B2B accelerator in the world by Forbes and Boost VC – a Silicon Valley-based accelerator run by fourth generation venture capitalist Adam Draper.
Founder Elviss Straupenieks dreams of successful entrepreneurship combined with his passion for flying took wings in 2015 when he began working on developing drone tech at the age of 16. Elviss was named as one of the 25 and Under in Northern Europe by Nordic Business Report in 2018. The engineering team at AirBoard AGRO comprises Latvian engineers who have 30 years of experience in robotics having worked on projects ranging from heavy lift drone aerial systems to the fastest electric racing car in the world; including the FAI fastest drone racing pilot in the world as well. AirBoard was listed as one of the Top 10 Latvian Startups to Watch in 2018 by the ArcticStartup technology blog. AirBoard is already running active pilot tests in Northern Europe and Germany markets. For more information on AirBoard AGRO access:
Website: https://www.airboard.co/agro/