Red Deer (Rural Roots Canada) – A new tool designed to help farmers, agronomists, and crop advisors map fields with greater precision is nearing commercial readiness, and it’s already attracting major attention.

SwarmBox, developed by Calgary, Alberta-based Threshold UAV, uses multiple sub-250-gram micro-drones to collect high-resolution field data. The system is intended to map everything from pest pressure and disease risk to soil conditions, offering a faster and more detailed look at crop health than current methods.

Company founder Mac Hunic says deploying multiple drones at once elevates field mapping to a new level.

“Satellites, airplanes, single drone solutions they just aren’t pulling their weight. To make sure the success of these AI innovations rolls out in the most smooth way possible, we’ve created a system that captures very high-resolution data, very quickly, and we’re able to go back and do it again and again,” he says.

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Hunic, a SAIT graduate who had no agricultural background prior to launching the company, says testing prototypes on farms across the province was essential to refining the technology.

“We learned a lot about farming in general. It gave us the information we needed to continue our innovation process in a manner that’s sustainable and points us in the right direction.”

Threshold UAV’s work is drawing industry recognition. The company captured the $20,000 grand prize at the Agri-Trade Ag Innovations Awards last week.