Ceres Imaging, the aerial imagery company that builds irrigation management solutions to help farmers improve profitability, has selected Adelaide for its Australian headquarters. The company is currently expanding its team in South Australia and Victoria and quadrupling its efforts in the Australian ag tech marketplace. 

Ceres Imaging has also partnered with Melbourne-based Agthentic to co-sponsor its Executive Forum on August 17th and 19th. The series will bring together farm operation leaders at some of the largest specialty crop farms in Australia to share best practices with precision technology applications. 

“The Australian agricultural community is facing a critical time, and we’re excited to support it with an accelerated investment in our operations here after eight years of operations in Australia,” said Ash Madgavkar, founder and CEO of Ceres Imaging. “Our solution helps farmers thrive in a challenging macro-environment, and our work with Australian growers demonstrates that.” 

Australian expansion one of many recent milestones

In addition to the new Australia expansion, Ceres Imaging has recently celebrated many other important milestones. For example, the company:

- Is in its ninth growing season. Its solutions are now being used on more than 20% of all irrigated specialty crops in the western United States, and Ceres Imaging has nearly doubled its share of California specialty crops like grapes and almonds.

- Recently completed a successful Series C funding with investors including Romulus Capital, XTX Ventures, B37 Ventures and Insight Partners.

- Completed integrations with most brand name in-field sensor solutions, including WiseConn, Ranch Systems and Irrometer.

- Released a new study of more than 280,000 hectares of specialty crops to quantify the extent and impact of drip irrigation issues to identify opportunities for growers to conserve water, reduce costs, and improve farm yields.

The company has also released a suite of new products for the coming growing season, including:

Plant Level Insights, which helps growers measure crop stress at a tree or vine level across their entire operation so they can reduce uncertainty, proactively plan, and improve irrigation performance for healthier crops and higher yield.

Seasonal Trends, which helps growers match their desired yield and quality to trends in phenology and water stress curves between seasons.

“There are other imagery providers available, but they aren’t as detailed or high-resolution,” said Craig Alm, owner of Yatco Farms in South Australia. “With Ceres Imaging, we can direct employees to the correct row - even down to the tree - to address the issue we find in the imagery.” 

“After investigating several drone, satellite and aerial imagery options, Ceres Imaging was found to provide the best results, at an economical price,” said Brian Dunn, research agronomist at the NSW Government Department of Primary Industries.

“Our technologies help growers improve uniformity and protect crop health,” added Mr Madgavkar. “We endeavor to support farmers with more than information. We help them take action.”