AGREENCULTURE
HUMMINGBIRD TECHNOLOGIES PHOTO: PATTISON LIQUID SYSTEMS
EDITOR’S PICKS ▶▶▶
Autonomous robots grow 50ha of maize
Farmer tells about using a robotic tractor
AUSTRALIA Dutch born Gerrit Kurstjens shares his experi- ences of operating a driverless tractor. One of the world’s first is being put to work in fields south-west of Brisbane. Last season it clocked up 10,000ha spraying. It also carried out 5,000ha of tramline renovation work. The technology was applied to a Fendt 936 Vario by Dutch technology manufacturer Probotiq. “Our initial fears were whether we would find the tractor in a neighbour’s paddock, in a ditch or against a tree. We can now laugh about it, but in the early days we were indeed a bit nervous when we set the tractor off into the distance all by itself. I am now convinced the robot tractor is safer than a tractor with a driver in it, in several ways. A robot tractor will always stand still unless every parameter is green or correct. A standard tractor with GPS steering will keep driving as long as nobody intervenes.” Kurstjens sees many benefits, like labour sav- ings, especially at night and at weekends. There is also the bonus of lower maintenance and repair costs because the machine is being driven entirely within pre-set parameters, and not pushed to the maximum. The farmer has ordered two more robotic tractors. “Not only can we use them in full robot mode, but also as a normal tractor with GPS autosteering. This is why I believe driverless tractors without a cab in practice will be more expensive and less flexible.”
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EUROPE The French-Belgian Ausy Group and the French start-up AgreenCulture are growing 50 hectares of maize completely autono- mously in 2018, using robots on crawler wheels with lifting gear. A charging station for seed and fertiliser is installed on the land. In October 2017, robots took a soil sample every 5 metres to map the area. In March two robots, each with two cultivator teeth, pulled the ground loose at the coordinates where the corn is sown. In April three robots sowed the maize. The first one deposits fertiliser, the other two sow the corn depending on the structure of the soil. In May, two robots will spread additional fertiliser. After that me- chanical weed control will take place, and eventually the plants will also be harvested by the robots. Each robot must determine, through artificial intelligence and as much input from sensors as possible, where opera- tions are necessary and not interfere with the others.
funding for the expansion of their precision farming platform. One of the investors is Sir James Dyson, inventor and founder of the Dyson company. Hummingbird uses drone, aerial and satellite imagery, combined with weather and soil data and artificial intelli- gence, for yield predictions, managing nitro- gen levels and diagnosing diseases in a variety of crops. Other participants are the European Space Agency, Newable Private Investing, and Velcourt, the UK’s largest commercial farming operation. Hummingbird’s precision farming platform is said to deliver actionable data to farmers 24 hours after drone flights are carried out. The company uses artificial intelligence and ma- chine learning algorithms to deliver insights into crop health, and to decipher hidden pat- terns in a field. The platform is backed by large agri-businesses and academic universities.
Western Australia rural telecoms fund
Hummingbird raises € 3 million to grow EUROPE
Hummingbird Technologies from London have raised € 3 million ($ 4.1 million) in new
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 25 May 2018
AUSTRALIA Farm and other agricultural businesses in Western Australia can get match-funding grants to improve digital technologies helpful to their enterprises. They can apply for a slice of the AU$ 22 million (€ 13.88 million) telecom- munications fund, part of a wider AU$ 75 mil- lion (€ 47.33 million) investment pot for agri- culture infrastructure across the state. For example: improving mobile and internet cov- erage in innovative ways, improvements in knowledge management systems, or better utilisation of wireless technologies and com- puter-aided or controlled devices. Being able to access high speed internet is considered to be the key to future business improvement and productivity gains, as Western Australia seeks to regain its international competitive- ness in the farming sector.
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