A NEW version of the drone-enabled crop scouting app, Skippy Scout, is being launched at Shropshire’s Harper Adams University next month.

The event, on Tuesday, October 20, as part of a free to attend, national roadshow from agricultural drone software specialists, Drone Ag, who will be offering interactive demonstrations that will see the new 2.5 version of the software launched to new and existing users.

“This marks a big step for Skippy Scout because we are launching the new artificial intelligence (AI) software that will count plants, measure healthy crop cover compared to weed cover, report on damaged crops and highlight insect damage,” explains Drone Ag founder Jack Wrangham.

“This is the most advanced crop scouting tool we have produced and is the culmination of years of development work.

“We are looking forward to demonstrating Skippy Scout 2.5 to existing and potential users when we visit Harper Adams University on October 20.”

The new version will also draw on satellite data to track and benchmark crop health.

“Satellite health maps appear as layers in the app and are updated up to three times a week,” said Mr Wrangham.

“These maps act as a guide to help the user target areas based on key crop performance indicators and can help to identify issues.

“This might be very high growth early in the season.

The roadshow will tour five destinations and places can be booked by visiting www.skippy.farm/roadshow.