How the Forge Unlocks ROI and the Tractor Moment for Agriculture Drones with Lukas Koch

17/09/2025 13 min

Listen "How the Forge Unlocks ROI and the Tractor Moment for Agriculture Drones with Lukas Koch"

Episode Synopsis

Unlock millions in ROI from your enterprise drone program.Our FREE Enterprise Drone Program Maturity Assessment benchmarks your program against best practices and reveals the strategic initiatives needed to scale.Get your free assessment now! ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://bit.ly/droneprogram-maturity-assessment โ€”----------------------------In this episode of the Do You Know Drones podcast, host Jason San Souci speaks with Lukas Koch, the organizer and CEO of Kelly Hills Unmanned Services, at the Unmanned Ag Field Day in Seneca, Kansas. Lucas reflects on the rapid advancements in the drone industry over the past five years and shares his vision for the next five to six years. The discussion also covers the "tractor analogy" and how the industry is still in its very early stages. Lucas also introduces the Forge, a new digital product that combines various agricultural technologies to create a single, cohesive solution for growers. He explains how this collaborative approach, which he compares to how plugins work on the web, will help solve the problem of "analysis paralysis" for farmers and can be applied to other industries like package delivery and utilities.๐Ÿ”‘ Key Takeaways: The drone industry has come a long way in the last five years, with companies like DJI making significant advancements with products like the T50 and T40.In the next five to six years, more manufacturers will likely emerge, offering specialized drones to address specific problems for growers in different regions.The industry is still in its early stages, with much room for growth and the creation of new jobs.The Forge is a new digital product that packages various agricultural technologies together to create a single, integrated solution for growers.The idea for the Forge came from the realization that many agricultural technology companies were not surviving because their niche products were too difficult for growers to manage on their own.This solution-oriented approach helps farmers avoid "analysis paralysis," which is a problem also seen in other industries like utilities and oil and gas.The collaborative model of the Forge can be a framework for other industries, including package delivery and rural hospital logistics.โŒ› Timestamps:[00:01:27] - Lucas discusses his vision for the drone industry in the next five years, noting that the market is primed for new products.[00:03:20] - Lucas shares his "tractor analogy" and how history often repeats itself, drawing a parallel between the early days of tractors and the current state of heavy-lift drones.[00:05:33] - Lucas introduces the Forge and explains why he created it to help solve the problem of fragmented agricultural technology solutions.[00:08:09] - Jason praises the Forge as a brilliant and necessary solution that addresses a major pain point in the industry.[00:10:50] - Lucas shares his favorite beer from a local brewery, which is called "Life Coach"Follow the Guest Lukas Koch: ๐Ÿ‘‰ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukaskoch/Follow the Host Jason San Souci: ๐Ÿ‘‰ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsansouci/๐Ÿ”— More from Do You Know Drones:๐Ÿ‘‰ Website: https://www.droneopsusa.com/ ๐Ÿ‘‰ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/afe-advisor-llc/ ๐Ÿ‘‰ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dykdrones/# ๐Ÿ‘‰ X(Twitter): https://x.com/DronesDyk ๐Ÿ‘‰ Email: [email protected] the Podcast:ย ๐Ÿ‘‰ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/do-you-know-drones/id1479307112 ๐Ÿ‘‰ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3OtyfQcB0tW6abhhke7zq9?si=3a386b3e0bba4731#drones #Kansas #agtech #unmannedsystems #agrifieldday #dronetechnology #innovation #LukasKoch #JasonSanSouci #agriculture

More episodes of the podcast Do You Know Drones?