Agricultural robotics for vegetable production and weed management

Lead Applicant: Mary Ruth McDonald

Research Priority: Plant Health & Protection 

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2023/2024

Research Centre: Ontario Crops Research Centre - Bradford

Research Summary: There is a shortage of agricultural labour for crop production in Canada, including for vegetable production in Ontario. This project will evaluate the battery-powered Naio Orio and the solar-powered FarmDroid, which are commercially available robotics. The use of agricultural robots will replace hand weeding, and also reduce the hours needed to operate tractors. Hand weeding is done by workers in the target vegetable crops because there are few or no herbicides available or there are herbicide-resistant weeds. This project will evaluate the robots on vegetables grown on muck soil - carrots, onions and beets - and on carrots and beets on mineral soil. The robots can seed the crop, till soil for weed management and do other tasks. The project also includes a new technology for real-time nutrient testing in the field by Picketa. The use of these robots will also reduce carbon emissions and soil compaction.