May 3, 2016, FREDERICTON (GNB) – Premier Brian Gallant toured Resson Aerospace as part of the ongoing activities organized during Innovation Week. He made the visit with the company co-founders Peter Goggin and Rishin Behl.
“The success of Resson Aerospace is an example of how innovation can make our traditional industries like agriculture more competitive,” said Gallant. “It also demonstrates that New Brunswick entrepreneurs have a unique ability to identify a need, and find a solution.”
Resson Aerospace is a Fredericton company that uses high-technology drones and advanced bioinformatics to do what farmers have traditionally done on foot. Instead of walking their field to gather information, farmers can now use information gathered by drones and other advanced sensor platforms developed by the company. The technology was created in 2013 by two University of New Brunswick graduates.
Since then, Resson Aerospace has become a leading precision agriculture company working with some of the world’s largest food producers by using drones and other advanced technologies to gather and analyze information.
“We can get a lot of insight on the crop health and what is happening on the farm,” said Goggin. “This can be used to help farmers better control the production and growth of the crop and help make decisions that can increase yields using data-driven insights to know exactly where to take action.”
The drones have become a common site over New Brunswick potato fields. The Resson Agricultural Management and Analytics System analyzes crop metrics to assess crop status and health. This enables farmers to optimize operations, improve efficiency, boost yields and maximize profitability.
The data captures a wide variety of information from the impact on the environment to invasive pest and other crop stresses.
The company has been nominated for an Innovative New Product/Service Award at the 2016 KIRA Awards on May 5 in Fredericton.
Funding from Opportunities NB has helped Resson Aerospace grow to its current complement of 20 highly skilled employees, who are primarily software developers, data scientists and engineers. The company expects to more than double its staff to 42 employees in the next 12 months.
Opportunities NB is a Crown corporation that seeks to attract and support opportunities to grow the economy and create jobs. It provides support services for businesses across the province.
From left: Justice and Public Safety Minister Stephen Horsman; Peter Goggin, co-founder of the company; Premier Brian Gallant; and Stephen Lund, CEO of Opportunities NB.
MEDIA CONTACT(S):
Mary-Anne Hurley-Corbyn, communications, Opportunities NB, 506-476-7596.