Autonomous systems on farms

Flexible robotic machinery, coupled with GPS and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used in multiple applications such as precision planting, harvesting and weed/disease notification and control. Autonomous vehicles and robotics use ‘service’ business models, as well as outright purchase or lease.

This section covers potential transformation of farming operations based on system such as controlled traffic farming, autonomous vehicles and robotics. A wider range of options, including smaller robotic systems, gantry equipment and novel fuel sources, is enabling radical farm vehicle re-design. Robust internet connectivity is a critical element to realise the maximum potential benefits of these technologies, many of which are data-driven and utilise artificial intelligence.

Controlled traffic farming, autonomous vehicles & robotics

Technology is transforming systems and energy use in food production. Conventional crop production systems were developed assuming an abundant and relatively affordable supply of energy dense fossil fuels for mobile power. The perceived scarce resource was human labour and attention. That led to practices where fossil fuels were used to substitute labour and time, for example, planting systems that require tillage and harvesting technology using mobile power for on-the-go threshing.

Limiting greenhouse gas emissions will require everyone, including agriculture, to use less energy and it may require using it in less energy dense forms. Energy from renewable sources, especially solar and wind, is becoming more available and affordable, but with current battery technology it is less energy dense, so less useful for the mobile power needed for crop equipment.

The comparison of energy density between batteries and fossil fuels depends on the fuel and type of battery used, but per kilogram diesel has many times more energy than the best batteries. Other energy alternatives, such as hydrogen, are more energy dense but have other challenges. This section explores how agri-tech solutions can reduce overall energy use in crop production, while simultaneously boosting crop production and improving environmental management.

Controlled Traffic Farming and Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) is a well-established approach given a practical boost by access to reliable and affordable Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). CTF can operate equipment repeatedly on the same routes in the field. With random field traffic, up to 100% of the soil may be driven over in a year. With CTF, the portion of the field depends on equipment used, tyre width and operator skill, but with manual operation, it was commonly 30% to 40%.

Using GNSS, the area can be even lower – perhaps as low as 15%. Research indicates up to a 50% energy reduction with CTF, chiefly because equipment is always operating on a compacted pathway and not on loose soil, minimizing rolling resistance. Other factors contributing to energy savings are less draft force required in untrafficked areas, less need for deep tillage to break up compaction and improved efficiency with well-planned field routes. Research and decades of farm experience indicate that in general yields increase 9%-16% in un-trafficked soils, with even greater benefits in soils prone to compaction.

The discussion of autonomous crop equipment usually starts with the shortage of farm labour, but experience with autonomous technology suggests a wider range of practical benefits including energy saving, intensification of crop management, more timely field operations, plus much reduced soil compaction, greater precision and improved field biodiversity.

Reducing farm equipment size

Once human drivers are removed, the incentive for larger equipment almost disappears. Machines can therefore be smaller and lighter. Completely autonomous equipment does not need a steering system, cab, seat and other manual operation systems. Autonomous equipment can use any energy source, but because it is smaller and lighter than most conventional fossil fuel powered equipment, it can be more easily adapted to battery electric using the solar, wind and other renewable electricity that is becoming more widely available and affordable.

Making the most of battery powered electric vehicles (BEV) may require redesign of cropping systems, including development of low- or no-draft planting systems, and whole plant harvest systems, even for grains and oilseeds, by using centralised threshing. Smaller, lighter equipment may allow better timeliness if autonomous machines can enter the field when it is too wet for large, heavy conventional equipment.

Benefits of autonomous farm machinery

With no driver to pay, the autonomous machine can take its time to assess the plant health, nutritional status and other needs of individual plants. Mechanical weeding and more targeted herbicide application can drastically cut agri-chemical use. Smaller, lightweight autonomous equipment can operate in small, irregular shaped fields more cost effectively and move around in-field trees and other obstacles, allowing for greater in-field biodiversity.

Autonomous equipment may also allow production of multiple crop species within a single field using strip cropping, intercropping individual plants or other crop geometries. Having multiple crop species in a field is common in less-intensive agriculture, but usually disappears with conventional mechanisation. Having multiple crop species within a field can benefit soil health and facilitate pest management by increasing natural competition.

Because autonomous equipment is GNSS guided and typically operates on predetermined field paths, CTF can be implemented with autonomous machines if equipment is selected to match the operational width.