Skip to content

Agriculture This Week: Sprayer tech big step for farm sector

When you look at agriculture today if one area of the industry shows how significantly the view of end consumers and those of producers can seem at odds, it would be in the use of herbicides.
ag

When you look at agriculture today if one area of the industry shows how significantly the view of end consumers and those of producers can seem at odds, it would be in the use of herbicides.

While in a world of the din on social media might be the minority making their voice heard, it is rather clear there is increased concerned about the use of chemicals in producing a crop. It is a concern that is actually two-pronged, with some worried about residues in the food we eat, and others concerned about its impact on the environment; the danger of bees, birds and water.

But, farmers need to control weeds, bugs and disease if they are to produce crops to feed people.

That said it is important the agricultural sector does what it can to reduce usage, in-part because consumers are increasingly demanding it and if farmers don’t do it on their own, governments will legislate it, and because reducing use is good business.

Herbicides are not low-cost, so reducing usage saves money.

Weeds also develop tolerances so again reducing use is good to slow that process.

That is where the concept of spraying only the weeds in a field, not the crop itself, is such a compelling one for the industry.

The approach is simple enough, wanting a system that can identify the weeds and spray them. Much as homeowners do when walking across the lawn with a home sprayer going after dandelions, and only dandelions.

Of course the technology to do that on a field scale is quite another thing, but it appears to have arrived.

John Deere has a unit that is nearing production that will employ 36 cameras which will identify offending weeds. From the time a camera sees a weed it is 200 milliseconds until spray is applied to it, noted a story at www.producer.com

While the technology limits the speed one can spray at so the technology can work, the system is designed to significantly reduce the amount of total spray product applied to a field.

This is another example of how technology is pushing farming techniques ahead by huge steps.

It will take some time for the technology to be widely used, but the agriculture sector has long been a field where early adoption of new ideas has been the norm; from growing GM canola to zero-till practices.

With the potential to save annual operational costs by reducing herbicide use, and because it is a positive development for the environment and the peace-of-mind of consumers, this has to be something producers are keeping a close eye on in terms of development.