If I blazed past you at this year’s Farm Progress Show or Husker Harvest Days with a frenzied expression, my apologies. Reporting on new equipment released at the annual farm shows is always exciting, yet hectic. This year was no different.
As a journalist who closely monitors ag tech trends, I was intrigued and surprised to happen across Carbon Robotics’ booth at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill. It’s probably not an equipment brand familiar to Midwest farmers. Having developed its LaserWeeder and autonomy technologies in western specialty crops, Carbon Robotics is pushing into the Corn Belt.
Why now?
“This is our first year at the Farm Progress Show, because this year, we came out with a 40-foot LaserWeeder that’s designed specifically for organic corn and organic soybean growers,” says Brett Goodwin, vice president of marketing at the ag tech company based in Seattle. “This is the beginning … of laser weeding in the Midwest.”
With prices ranging between $520,000 for a 6.5-foot model and $1.6 million for its largest 40-foot machine, the LaserWeeder might be out of reach for many farmers. Even so, the technology beneath the implement’s modular white boxes is fascinating. High-definition cameras capture detailed field-images, and using artificial intelligence, 24-watt lasers zap weeds.
It’s not just Carbon Robotics that’s pivoting into the Midwest with its innovative machines. California-based Verdant Robotics’ hooded SharpShooter sprayer recently rolled across Indiana fields during Becknology Days by Beck’s.
Aided by cameras, artificial intelligence and machine learning, the sprayer burns down individual cover crop plants with herbicide. Its cameras create a digital twin record as the implement moves over the crop, modeling every single plant on each square foot of soil. It’s accurate to the millimeter.
Midwestern ag tech brands are also experimenting with nontraditional weeders. In Kansas, Greenfield Robotics with its swarm-based mechanical weeders is a prime example. These small weed-destroying robots cut plants with mechanical blades. I think this unprecedented innovation is cause for excitement.
Watching these cutting-edge machines work is a glimpse at the future. For now, the robots can only travel at 2 mph because the computers can only digest so much data at once. A turning point might come when their speed picks up.
Accepting change
Skepticism rightly abounds because farmers risk losing their hard-earned money if a machine goes bust. But just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s not revolutionary. Spray drones were once met with skepticism. And for a while, their high price tag and technological limitations made them impractical. Now, they’re everywhere.
Two questions sprang to mind as I walked the LaserWeeder’s circumference at this year’s Farm Progress Show: “When does innovation meet practicality? And is this viable for Midwestern crops?”
It just might be someday.