Overview:
Agriculture is a continuously expanding sector which faces a well known
restraint to productivity known as weed which leads to increase in agricultural
costs, reduction in value of land and harboring of pests. A Swiss company has
found an ingenious way to deal with the problem with the use of technology. The
resulting product is both environments friendly and efficient. This product of
artificial intelligence (AI) works on the principle of ‘see and spray’.
Evolution:
The Swiss robot is a revolution in weed control techniques which in recent
years have shifted from handpicking to chemical use. Weedicides are now common
and are in popular use globally as they not only eliminate visible weed growth
but also destroy the seeds of such weeds which may not be easily visible. The Swiss
technology startup Ecorobotix relies on AI in taking the concept of weed
removal to the next level and thus developed the autonomous robot weeder. This
robot uses photovoltaic panels and is solar powered. It has GNSS navigation, a
camera and artificial vision system to detect crop rows and identify weed. The
robot also has multilink arms and a navigation system that helps it distinguish
normal crops from weeds. Other companies are also exploring the field of
technology in agriculture and are undertaking similar projects. Further
developments include:-
·
‘scan
and spray’ technology research being done by American company Blue River.
·
Franklin
Robotics has developed Tertill.
·
Naio
Technologies created Oz weeding robot.
·
Deepfield
Robotics owned by German Robert Bosch is working on Bonirob which is an
automated weeding machine that physically destroys weeds.
·
Denmark’s
Agrointelli is working on precision spraying technologies.
Market Scenario: Seed industry
analysis revealed that automated weeders are
not good for everyone as some of the profit pools that are in the hands of big
agrochemical companies will now shift partly to the farmer and partly to
equipment manufacturers. According to
seed
market research reports herbicide sales account for half of
the pesticides revenue and reduction in sales could disrupt the pesticides and seeds industry by reducing the need
for universal herbicides and the genetically modified crops that tolerate them.
BASE, a German corporation which is the world’s largest chemical
company, has recently invested heavily in Ecorobotix’s product along with
CapAgro. Leading players such as Germany’s Bayer and BASE alongside Swiss Syngenta
have started to modify their business models to incorporate agricultural
technology.
Competition: Germany
has emerged as the absolute leader in agricultural technology and is constantly
innovating to further its creations. Bayer and Bosch teamed up in 2017 for a
‘smart spraying’ research project. Bayer is also expected to become the world’s largest
seed
market and pesticides producer when its acquisition of Monsanto is
completes. China is also picking up pace, ChemChina bought Syngenta in 2017.
Conclusion: The efforts of the
Swiss company are paving the way for agricultural technologies that will not
only be more efficient but also environment friendly. Germany has emerged as a
leader in this industry followed by Switzerland and US with China showing recent
interests.
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Ken
Research
Ankur
Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications
0124-4230204