Transforming the Farming Industry

 The development of agriculture was a watershed moment in humanity. Humans ability to engineer the environment to generate enough food to sustain massive population growth was the first profound change in the relationship between fully-modern humans and the environment. The advent of agriculture kickstarted a wider range of advancements from the use of fire and prepared food to self-driving machinery.  

 Robotics developed for seeding and weeding can target specific crop areas. In seeding, this can easily reduce labor and mundane tasks on the farm. Weeding robotics can be incredibly accurate and reduce pesticide usage by 90% with computer vision.Blue river technology employs computer vision and robotics technologies to precisely spray herbicides only where needed and with exactly what’s needed. This gives farmers a new way to control and prevent herbicide-resistant weeds. company that produces a weeding robot -- this is the first ever completely autonomous machine for a more ecological and economical weeding of row crows, meadows, and intercropping cultures. 

 Farm automation technology addresses major issues like a rising global population, farm labor shortages, and changing consumer preferences. The benefits of automating traditional farming processes are monumental. 

Consumers preferences are shifting towards organic and sustainably-produced products. With automation technology, produce reaches consumers faster, fresher, and more sustainably. Increase in productivity from automation increases the yield and rate of production, therefore reducing costs for consumers.

Labor is over50% of the cost  to grow a farm and 55% of farmers say they are impacted by labor shortages. Because of this, 31% of farmers are moving to less labor-intensive crops. However, there is huge potential with harvest robots. Routine tasks can be automated with robotics technology, reducing labor costs and manpower needed amidst a labor shortage in the agriculture industry. A single strawberry robot harvestor  has the potential to pick a 25-acre area in 3 days and replace 30 farm workers.

Farm automation practices can make agriculture more profitable while also reducing the ecological footprint of farming at the same time. Site-specific application software can reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizer used while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.