‘Fruitbots’ Could Save Growers Money, Create High-tech Jobs
by Tony Drovetto, CAHNRS Marketing and News Services Intern
Advancements in the mechanization of farm equipment are reducing labor costs,increasing efficiency and improving profits for area growers of specialty crops.
Specialty crops (fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, including Washington’s largest crops, apples, grapes and potatoes) make up a $45 billion per year industry characterized by the need for intensive cultivation. But the economic sustainability of these high-value crops is threatened by increasing labor costs and shortages of available labor.
Recently, in order to meet the issue of labor head on, a consortium of university, federal and private industry researchers was formed to develop a comprehensive automation strategy for specialty crops. As Dan Bernardo, dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences said, “We must keep the specialty crop industry competitive, or we lose it-- and all its jobs -- to global competitors. Labor cost and availability is the No. 1 threat at this time.”
WSU Extension educator Gwen Hoheisel said the Autonomous Prime Mover is a piece of equipment that has the potential to improve profit and reduce labor costs for growers of specialty crops.
“The idea behind the Autonomous Prime Mover is a laser technology that has the capability to auto-steer,” said Hoheisel. Using laser guidance, the APM can “see” the trees in an orchard and steer itself down the open lanes between rows. “Auto-steering is available now in some farm equipment, but it is through the use of GPS, which is difficult to utilize in closed orchards,” she said.
The APM performs a variety of tasks that specialty crop growers would normally hire laborers to perform, including insect monitoring and elimination, weed management and detection, plant stress and disease detection, crop load scouting, caliper measurement of tree size and augmented fruit harvesting.
Bernardo praises these advancements in technology, even though they may displace some of the jobs for laborers in the agriculture industry. “If you keep the industry here, you’ll keep the jobs here,” he said. “Agriculture is the No. 1 employer in Washington State. These types of technologies can help grow our industries and actually create higher paying jobs.”
“Most people don’t even think about what it took to get that fruit to their tables,” Hoheisel said, referring to the costs associated with producing specialty crops. “By the end of this four-year effort, we hope that some of these advancements in mechanization will become fully commercialized and utilized by area growers.”
This article originally appeared in the On Solid Ground newsletter.
 |
| A spin in the orchard: the Autonomous Prime Mover needs no driver to find its way up and down orchard rows. Photos: Kathy Barnard |