Farmdroid does not immediately work flawlessly in sugar beets and chicory

Colleagues said to me: “If that robot delivers such work, it is not really ready for practice, then you can’t actually start with it yet. I said: it is ready for practical use, we just have to learn to work with it. So just start with it. In any case, we have to work on ways to grow with less chemicals.”

Arable farmer Joost Derks talks about the first experiences with the Farmdroid sowing and weeding robot on his farm. In the first week of May, the robot sowed 10 hectares of sugar beet, and at the end of May 12 hectares of chicory. Derks showed colleagues from his study group the first results of what the Farmdroid has done. In short: the machine sowed both the beets and the chicory neatly, but the approach to the weeds did not go smoothly.

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Hoeing can start immediately

The robot sows according to a fixed grid and remembers exactly where each seed is with the stored coordinates. This means that the machine can start weeding immediately after sowing, it does not have to be able to see the crop plants first.

Between the rows, a hoe stick loosens germinating weed seeds. A weed blade swings up and down between the plants. Because the first hoeing operation can be done blindly, the weed pressure remains low from the moment of sowing. If the machine can continue to work undisturbed, the robot can clean a 20-hectare plot in 7 to 8 days. Then the machine can start again. The energy comes from its own solar panel on top of the machine.

We no longer have to deploy these chemical agents full-field

Ideally, the grower does not have to worry about his crop until it is closed. Joost Derks would like to see his machine equipped with a spot spray installation, so that a systemic insecticide can be sprayed right in the middle of the plant early in the season and a fungicide in August, say. “As a result, we no longer have to deploy these chemical agents full-field, but site-specifically. This allows us to take an even bigger step.”

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Load of tracks

It is not that far yet, first evaluate the first hoeing results. “In the beets we received a shower of rain immediately after sowing. We then sprinkled agricultural salt and drove tracks. The Farmdroid suffered horribly from that. He got stuck and had trouble turning. At some point we stopped using robot hoes. The carrying capacity will be a point of attention next time.”

That is why it is important to get started with these kinds of techniques now; to learn

“We prepared this spring with a plow with a front packer. Perhaps it was a bit too coarse for the robot, but you don’t want to lay the soil too fine on the dust-sensitive sand here. Anyway, the sowing went very well.”

Meanwhile, at the end of June, the beets are blooming and the field is generously closed. A firm fresh leaf after the last rain. For weed control, Derks had to intervene chemically after the Farmdroid got stuck. “That is why it is important to get started with these kinds of techniques now; to learn. If things don’t go well right away, we still have the chemistry behind us.”

Incidentally, after a chemical intervention, the weeds in the beets were tackled with a spike rotowweeder (a demo machine). When the crop was closed, it was hoeed again to rid it. Again to minimize resource use.

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Prepare soil more firmly

Then the chicory. At the end of May, the robot sowed 12 hectares in a period of 7 days. The working speed for sugar beets is about 900 meters per hour. With chichorei, which is sown much more closely, the speed is 450 meters per hour. “Indeed, quite slowly,” admits Joost Derks. “But if you can work 24 hours a day, you will come to an end.”

Another point when sowing the chicory was preparing the soil. Next time, Derks also wants to press the soil more firmly here. “What we now saw is that the wheel in front of the sowing element pressed into the soil a bit, which eventually caused the plants to be placed a little deeper. Grains of sand easily roll into the heart of the young chicory plant, which then gives up. Chicory is very sensitive in that respect.”

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Many meldes escaped

Seeding was followed by three inter-row hoeing and inter-row weeding, adjusting the weeding blades more aggressively with each hoeing. That is, went closer to the plants. The problem was that weeds, meldes, which were always just behind the chicory plants, were just not hit and continued to grow. When Derks decided at a certain point that it would be smart to have the machine drive through the crop the other way around, it was actually too late. The meldes were too large to be uprooted by the weeding element.

The result is that the chicory plot is full of reported. To get rid of this, another solution is being sought. The first idea is to remove the meldes with a kind of clamp-picker, as shooters are also dealt with. But the weeds are not strong enough (not yet woody enough). The plants are not pulled out of the ground, but snapped. The choice then fell to mow off the meldes protruding above the chicory. All in all, there were some setbacks in the first year of the Farmdroid at arable farm Derks in Volkel. But Joost Derks is by no means taken aback by it. “The principle works. This machine is practical. Now to learn how to work with it.”