Skippy Scout Automated Drone Crop Scouting

Drone Ag is a UK agricultural drone company that describes itself as 'farmers who know drones'. It develops software for automated crop scouting, mapping and spraying support, sells and supports spray drones and Sentera sensors, and runs drone training for growers and agronomists.

Skippy Scout is its app that turns an off-the-shelf drone into an automated scouting tool: the user selects a field and the app plans and flies the mission without programming or piloting, capturing ultra close-up, repeatable images. Cloud analytics return crop statistics in minutes, including plant and weed counts per square metre, plant and weed cover, green area index, growth stage, ear counts in cereals and crop uniformity. The Pro tier adds weed and variability maps, establishment analysis with row detection and automated variable-rate application maps on aligned grids. The platform reports 1,570 farms, 104,000 hectares and 16,593 flights, with partners such as Syngenta and Agrii.

• Automated flight planning: the app plans and flies close-up scouting missions on off-the-shelf drones.
• Crop statistics: plant and weed counts, cover, green area index, BBCH growth stage and uniformity.
• Cereal analytics: ear counting and growth stage for wheat and barley.
• Pro mapping: weed and variability maps plus establishment analysis with row detection.
• VRA output: automated variable-rate application maps on aligned grids.
• BVLOS-ready operations: autonomous crop-trial monitoring authorised by Italy's ENAC.

• Agrochemical and seed companies monitoring field trials across provinces with repeatable drone imagery.
• Large rice or maize farms mapping weeds before planning targeted drone spraying.
• Agronomy service providers offering growth-stage and stand-count reports to contract farmers.

• Scouting a field takes minutes with no piloting or drone expertise needed.
• Objective counts of plants, weeds and growth stage replace manual sampling and walking fields.
• Agrii reports up to 24% lower nitrogen input costs and up to 41% lower CO2 emissions using Skippy Scout.
• Automated VRA maps link scouting results directly to targeted fertilizer or spraying operations.

As spray drones spread, growers need fast field intelligence to decide where to spray and fertilize. Automated scouting with low-cost drones and AI analytics is replacing manual field walking, and variable-rate maps help cut input costs and emissions, a need shared by rice and cash-crop producers across Southeast Asia.

Drone Ag Limited is based in the UK; partners include Syngenta, which uses Skippy Scout to monitor development trials across multiple countries, and Agrii. In December 2025 it received an ENAC BVLOS authorisation for autonomous crop-trial monitoring in Italy, and it also distributes Sentera sensors and DJI Agras spray drones with training.