The Future Of Farming Is Robots SAN CARLOS, Calif. (AP) — Brandon Alexander would like to introduce you to Angus, the farmer of the future. He’s heavyset, weighing in at nearly 1,000 pounds, not to mention a bit slow. But he’s strong enough to hoist 800-pound pallets of maturing vegetables Read more…
Rural communities in Japan are facing a labor shortage as farmers age and young people move to urban areas. The drones, which fly over fields quickly performing tasks strenuous to farmers, may be one part of how farms in the aging rural heartland can adapt. Yuka Obayashi/ReutersNileworks Inc.’s drone sprays pesticide Read more…
Blueberry Farm Uses Lasers to Scare Off Hungry Birds Last summer, a blueberry farm in Oregon was desperate to solve its bird problem. The year before, the farm had lost more blueberries to hungry birds than in any previous growing season, with robins and starlings devouring 25 percent of its crop. At Read more…
ROBOT FARMERS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY PLANTED AND HARVESTED BARLEY BY THEMSELVES WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU Robot-ran farms have the potential to increase efficiency in the agriculture industry. Humans have been cultivating plants for some 10,000 years and, for much of that time, we’ve used beasts of burden to help tend Read more…
Farmers Are Replacing Migrant Workers With Robots The robotic pickers don’t get tired and can work 24 hours a day. Harvesting Washington state’s vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farmworkers, and many of them work illegally in the United States. That system eventually could change dramatically as at Read more…
MIT gives pesticides an electric charge to improve stickiness The method could cut the amount of anti-bug juice used by 90 percent. There are plenty of problems with pesticides — making bees dumb, anyone? — but the biggest is probably how much is wasted while it’s being sprayed onto Read more…