I’m a fan of the Star Trek spinoff, Picard. Several bucolic scenes take place on the admiral’s family estate in France. As Jean-Luc converses with Laris his Romulan housekeeper in the vineyard, levitating spray applicators float down the carefully tended rows of grape vines. It’s a reminder that technology is not only advancing in our densely populated urban centers. Farming, too, is evolving toward an autonomous future.
This tech will be critical in the coming years when humanity plants its first boot prints on the Moon, then on Mars. The goal in both locales is a permanent human presence. Given the expense each astronaut represents, there will be pressure for them to spend their time doing other tasks besides crop cultivation. It will be far more cost-effective to grow food in-situ than shipping it there from Earth, especially so on Mars.
The Moon will be the proving ground for techniques and technologies needed for the profound isolation on the Red Planet. Mistakes and mishaps in the lunar environment can be ameliorated with shipments from Earth in a matter of days. On Mars, a crop loss could spell starvation for colonists long before help could arrive. Let’s examine the state of ag tech today that will be needed on other worlds in the not-so-distant future.
The workhorse of modern farming is the tractor. An autonomous version is a marvel of technology, combining artificial intelligence, robotics, 360-degree vision, 3D cameras, and global positioning system (GPS) guidance.
This versatile device is used for numerous jobs on a typical farm: tilling, seeding, cultivating, spreading fertilizers and soil amendments, weeding, and harvesting. Let’s delve into the companies and their products advancing this technology today.
Showcased at the January 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Moline, Illinois-based John Deere unveiled its fully robotic 8R farm tractor. The company commands over 25% of the world-wide ag equipment market, and a 40% share in North America. Deere’s goal is to provide a self-operating system for row crops by 2030.
Deere has aggressively purchased several Silicon Valley firms to advance its automation goals. It acquired Bear Flag Robotics for$250 million for its autonomous navigation system. In addition to incorporation into Deere’s 8R, it can be retrofitted onto existing tractors.
Case’s Trident 5550 is designed for spreading dry and liquid materials in fields. The model at the farm show incorporated technology developed by Raven Industries, which Case parent company CNH acquired for $2.1 billion in June 2021. Similar to Deere’s autonomous 8R, the enhanced Trident employs self-driving capability, advanced cameras and AI to interpret a continuous stream of images to detect obstacles.
ASI Robotics provides three autonomy conversion kits. One package converts a skid steer loader and its myriad attachments. This is especially useful for tasks in tight spaces. A second kit retrofits compact tractors which operate in the narrow rows of orchards, vineyards, and other specialty crops. A third conversion is designed for broad acre and row crop full-size equipment, connecting multiple larger tractors, combines, or other vehicles. For example, a single operator can control several machines working together to till, fertilize and seed a field in one operation.
Available this past summer, Monarch’s MK-V compact autonomous tractor operates with or without a human driver. Its dimensions are suitable for fruit orchards, small scale family- and truck-farms.
Soil analysis involves sensors, satellite, and drone images to quickly assess the condition of a field. The information collected can help detect nutrient deficiencies or determine the right quantity and type of fertilizer to use. Precision agriculture software then creates a plan for fertilizing. Plants get the correct amount of what they need, and in the appropriate places, to grow well.
AI also manages water, measuring soil moisture content, topology, rainfall, and sun exposure. Coupled with precise locations of where measurements are taken gives farmers a new insight into what is happening above the soil and in it.
Sensors detect and monitor irrigation system water levels, identify changes in flow/pressure, waste, leaks, and blockages and shut off supply. Wasteful water use is detected and corrected. Operators can make more informed decisions that are very specific to particular conditions or crops.
Hitachi and Ag Automation have partnered to develop tech that allows farmers to optimize their irrigation practices. Automating the collection of soil moisture data and remote monitoring and control of water delivery systems, growers can easily manage their crops and improve their yield.
Central Oregon, where I live, has experienced a multi-year drought. The shortages have been so severe, irrigation districts with junior water rights have endured curtailed water allotments, forcing farmers to plant less acreage. The past two seasons their supply was cut off entirely before the end of the growing season, further diminishing yields.
The region’s irrigation districts are employing a two-pronged strategy to combat shortages. Growers are encouraged to adopt these smart ag practices. At the same time, districts are converting open canals to underground pipe, in some cases preventing the loss of up to 40%of water to seepage and evaporation.
Advances have also been made in weeding and pest control. See & Spray uses computer vision and machine learning to differentiate between plants and weeds and target herbicides only at the weeds.
John Deere and Volocopter developed a 9.2-meterbattery electric drone that can fly for up to 30 minutes. It features weed scanners and crop sprayers to accurately identify and control undesirable plants.
In April, Deere formed a joint venture with Global Unmanned Spray System (GUSS) Automation, which has devised semi-autonomous orchard and vineyard sprayers. Using AI and Internet of Things, multiple sprayers can be remotely controlled by a single operator, running up to eight at a time from a laptop. GUSS can detect trees and determine how much to apply on each one, regardless of height or canopy size.
Deere bought Silicon Valley startup Blue River Technology in 2017 for $305 million. Blue River’s “see and spray” robotics platform utilizes dozens of sophisticated cameras and processors to distinguish weeds from crop plants when applying herbicides.
Carbon Robotics’s autonomous LaserWeeder covers up to 20 acres a day. This amazing AI farming machine impresses me the most. Of all the tasks I do in my yard, weeding is my least favorite. I expect that’s true on the farm as well. To have a machine that can drive itself, differentiate between a weed and a desirable plant, then incinerate the undesirables at the rate of 100,000 per hour… When the company comes up with a miniature version for urban yards, I’m all over it! Check out this impressive short
promotional You Tube video.
Harvest equipment has also experienced an AI renaissance. Four Growers, a Pittsburgh-based startup provides robotic harvesting and analytics for high-value crops, such as greenhouse tomatoes. Philadelphia-based Burro, produces small, autonomous robots that assist farm workers with various conveyance tasks. Harvest CROO automates the crop management, harvesting and packing of specialty crops, like strawberries. The automated tractors discussed earlier can harvest wheat and row crops, or cut, rake and bale animal forage crops.
The revolution extends indoors using a technique called vertical farming. Plants are grown in pots on shelves, maximizing valuable floor space. They’re provided light, water and fertilizer on multi-tiered growing racks. Rather than stationary plants and mobile husbandry and harvest devices, the weeding, pest control and harvesting occurs in stationary machinery that the plants move to via an autonomous conveyor system.
This tech is most amenable to leaf crops like lettuce, spinach, etc. Considering that all farming on the Moon and Mars will be indoors, this is likely to be adopted by mission planners. There is less wasted vertical space and good management of water and fertilizer. One constraint is the narrower range of suitable crops.
Initially, vegetables, cereals and roots will be grown. Automated monitoring will manage soil moisture, fertilizer and salt levels. Small robotic devices will till, plant and harvest. To minimize required equipment and chemicals, seed batches must be screened for insect pests and disease prior to shipment to Mars. Crop diversification and specialization will grow with the colony: leaf crops, and larger autonomous tractor-tended trees, vines and bushes.
I’m a bit disappointed that except for aerial drones, we seem to be a long way from the anti grav autonomous implements shown in Picard. But we are rapidly developing the tech needed to sustain a permanent presence as we explore our solar system. If you have a chance to visit a farm, see which of the above-described systems are being adopted and proven there.
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Want a deeper dive? Check out these sources.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/02/how-deere-plans-to-build-a-world-of-fully-autonomous-farming-by-2030.htmlhttps://www.advancednavigation.com/tech-articles/autonomous-farming-a-leap-forward-in-ag-tech/https://www.clickworker.com/customer-blog/autonomous-farming/https://www.monarchtractor.com/blog/autonomous-tractorhttps://asirobots.com/companies/agriculture/https://social-innovation.hitachi/en-us/case_studies/digital-solutions-in-agriculture-drive-sustainability-in-farming/?utm_campaign=FY23US&utm_source=SEM&utm_medium=SUSF_Searchhttps://fourgrowers.com/https://www.harvestcroorobotics.com/
