Lagerhaus and the AIL present the precision field sprayer “ARA” from Ecorobotix, whose use of artificial intelligence to recognise plants opens up new possibilities in crop protection.

Its name is ARA and it’s the new intelligent precision field sprayer from the Swiss company Ecorobotix. For a total of five weeks during the past few months, ARA was subject to practical testing and presented to farms by the AIL and two Lagerhaus cooperatives. It was deployed on a winter onion field in the Marchfeld region and combated sorrel on grassland near Amstetten. With surprisingly positive results.

ARA is equipped with high-resolution cameras that use artificial intelligence to distinguish between crops and weeds. This enables it to apply crop protection products with pinpoint accuracy. As a result, plant protection products can be applied exclusively to the affected crop, which results in savings of up to 85 %, while herbicides can be applied exclusively to weeds, which minimises the stress on the crop. The special design and near-ground application also prevent potential drift and, thus, protect the surrounding soil and the wider environment.

“Our aim is to make such innovations available to farms in Austria as quickly as possible. Selective individual plant treatment opens up the possibility of significantly reducing the use of plant protection products,” says AIL Managing Director Georg Sladek.

Hannes Buchberger, Operations Manager at Lagerhaus Amstetten, was able to get an idea of ARA during the testing: “Operation is user-friendly and easy to understand. At a speed of 7 km/h, up to four hectares could be covered every hour, depending on the size of the fields.”

“The public is largely critical towards crop protection products. This is why it’s important to take every opportunity to reduce the use of pesticides. In the test, the precise application of the pesticide worked well, the crop was spared and the weeds were accurately targeted,” adds Benjamin Fleck, Operations Manager at Lagerhaus Marchfeld.

Picture: (c) AIL, Georg Sladek