Robotics and automation Drones help alternatives

Robotics and automation

Drones help alternatives

The drones will help potato growers speed up the alternation. This was stated by Rubenvan de Vijver of the Institute of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) during the Interpom Potato Fair in Belgium.

ILVO has long been experimenting with sensors, drones and artificial intelligence-assisted alternatives. "We're trying to give the drone more information to the grower, to make it look better," he said.

The first stage

Fungal spots can also be quickly detected by drones. “The sensors in the drones help detect the disease in the field as quickly as possible,” Van de Vijver said. "Thanks to artificial intelligence, you can already see fungal disease on a single plant. It's much faster than a grower can see it, usually only when large areas are infected. Cultivation is very important and the earlier you catch it, the more you can limit its effects.This early detection allows the grower to effectively mix with targeted spraying and limited environmental and financial impact.

Results via tablet

Thanks to this technology, the farmer gets more information through the tablet and general information about where the disease is in the field. The intention is that it can spray less and more accurately. “The plant may miss spraying or delay it for a few days. Potatoes are sprayed 10 to 18 times, depending on the weather. If you can delay the spraying for two days, that means a huge benefit.

The first autonomous potato harvester operates in the Groningen fields.

The world’s first autonomous potato harvester, called Harvey.One, has a bright red color, a caterpillar bottom, and moves completely independently with two workers on a sorting platform that quietly controls a remote control in the village of Groningen. Meanwhile, the potatoes are collected and cut into boxes. "We are very happy and we are very happy that Harvey.One has been created so far. After the first trial season of 2020, we made a number of wishes to the developer, ”said Sloots Agri.

The students of the school were replaced by Harvey.One

By 2020, Sloots Agri had always had about a dozen students to harvest potatoes by hand for three weeks in the summer. This happened in Eenrum (Groningen). Sloots Agri grows potatoes, sugar beets, onions and winter wheat on 210 hectares. “But the students didn’t always do what they wanted to do. They often left a good potato. It has also become increasingly difficult for us to find staff who want to sit on their knees in the mud for three weeks to pick potatoes in good but bad weather.

Shmiede.One

Schmiede.One is the manufacturer of the Harvey.One combine and a sister company of the Grimme Group. The software engineers at the development company think it’s mostly “out of the box”. The first model was unveiled at Agritechnica 2019. At the time, it was mainly focused on growing sweet potatoes. Sloot Agri then contacted Van der Maar Mechanisatie mechanization company to check if this machine could be tested. Together with Grimme, ASA-LIFT, Schmiede.One, the research model was transformed into an autonomous combine ready for operation in just two years.