Harvest Moon's new robotic weapon against weeds

Harvest Moon has purchased Tasmania’s first Ecorobotix ARA precision sprayer to manage weeds across a variety of crops in north-west Tasmania.

The half-a-million-dollar machine was demonstrated to more than 50 attendees at the recent VegNet Ag-tech in Action field day held at Harvest Moon Farm off Lillico Road in Forth.

VegNet is a national vegetable and onion industry extension project which uses levies to support growers and tackle challenges they’re experiencing on farm, such as pests, disease and weeds and input costs.

The field day was a chance for farmers to find out how the sprayer has been performing and the reasons behind the investment, as well as hear from growers who recently attended the Gatton Ag Tech Showcase and Lockyer Valley Farm Study Tour.

Harvest Moon chief agriculture officer Jono Craven said that emerging herbicide resistance in weeds led to the search for an alternative way to keep them under control.

“We looked at a number of machines in the search for the right one from a mix of laser weeders to green-on-green machines, however we landed on the Ecorobotix ARA high precision sprayer as the right option to invest in,’ Mr Craven said. 

“We’ve had it since August and it’s covered more than 500ha using artificial intelligence and cameras to identify where there are weeds in say, a crop of onions, and only spray the weed.

“It travels at 6kmph and sprays to 4cm precision and that means using a lot less herbicide, up to 75 percent less, which is a huge cost saving.

“We’re even able to accurately spray on windy days when traditionally we wouldn’t be able to.”

The 6m-wide sprayer is being used in fields of carrots, green beans and brassicas with different algorithms set for each, some of which are being developed by Harvest Moon.

There are now around 12 Ecorobotix machines in Australia and about 500 operating globally, with the ability to apply herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and foliar fertilisers directly onto the plant with precision. 

Results are showing better plant health with earlier development and increases in yield. 

“When we’ve finished a job, or even in real time, we can go onto the web portal and see the chemical saving and variable rate application map for every paddock,” Mr Craven said.