The LaserWeeder from technology company Carbon Robotics looks like something out of a science fiction movie. The massive, 10,000-pound robot uses a combination of mobile computing and hardware to identify weeds and eliminate them with lasers — with millimeter accuracy.
Produce company Braga Fresh started using the LaserWeeder in 2022 as part of the company's first foray into artificial intelligence. Through a partnership with machine-learning startup Agrology, Braga Fresh is helping to expand the scope of what AI can do on a farm.
Eric Morgan, Braga Fresh’s vice president of environmental science and resources, said the technologies have helped the company reduce the need for human labor and improve decision-making around sustainability and crop management. Leading the way in AI adoption could also generate demand for innovative solutions down the line.
“Shooting weeds with laser beams is great," Morgan told Agriculture Dive. "But from a market opportunity and getting more technology into the field … that [will] open the door for other people.”
Getting AI on the farm
Food companies face mounting criticism for a lack of progress in addressing climate impacts, which has spurred an appetite for digital solutions. But tech adoption has been slow going in the agriculture sector. The exceptions to the rule, like Carbon Robotics, have at least one thing in common: a willingness to listen to the farmers for which the tools are intended.
The dearth of advanced technology in farming operations is not from a scarcity of options. The tech industry is full of companies that would love to sell the sector products. Many just haven’t figured out how.
“Tech companies need to stop telling us what we need, and start asking us what we want,” Morgan said. “You’re not going to be successful in a market when you come to us with a solution that we don’t think we need to a problem that we don’t think we have.”
That’s why the LaserWeeder has been so successful, Carbon Robotics CEO Paul Mikesell told Agriculture Dive. Its early customers were more than that — they were partners. Growers’ metrics became Carbon Robotics’ metrics. It’s why ROI was a top priority.
Braga Fresh was no different. “We’re just really proud to be partners with them,” Mikesell said. The produce company has made concerted efforts in regenerative and organic agriculture, and Carbon Robotics provided a product that removes the need for herbicides and does not disturb topsoil.
“You can’t just build a machine in your lab and try to sell it,” Mikesell said.
Collaborators, not just customers
As the LaserWeeder came to Braga Fresh, the company was embarking on a new AI journey with Agrology. Like Carbon Robotics, Agrology became a partner, not just a vendor. At an event, Morgan recalled, he voiced interest in exploring if there’s a correlation between how much soil is respiring carbon dioxide and carbon sequestration in the soil. Agrology’s CEO, Adam Koeppe, was listening.
By fall 2022, Braga Fresh became the first grower to install Agrology’s Arbiter Carbon Monitoring System, which the companies say is the first-ever continuous soil carbon monitoring system and is powered by machine learning. Ultimately, Agrology is working to integrate data on climate, soil health, carbon and nutrient cycles, and more onto a single platform. And Morgan said Braga Fresh continues to help Agrology with research.
That’s the future of AI, Agrology Head of Regenerative Partnerships Charlie Dubbe said in an email — using more and more data points to generate increasingly accurate predictions. Though that will occur over time, Mikesell pointed out that the current iteration of AI can be used, too. That is, if companies can make their products “farm tough,” able to function in a real farm environment. And that’s what Carbon Robotics is working on.
Farm adoption of AI-based tools has remained slow but could soar in the coming years especially as a younger generation of farmers take over. Bushel’s State of the Farm report, which tracks farmer preferences, found "aggressive adoption" of technology by younger and growing farmers.
Still, farmers' mindset, Dubbe said, remains the biggest barrier to AI adoption in the sector. Many people are resistant to change. That’s why Morgan recommended that other farming operations take up a similar philosophy to Braga Fresh. Come to the table with an open mind, rather than a narrow focus. Maintain a willingness to compromise when having discussions with tech companies.
“I think collaboration partners, I think an open mindset, I think that compromise — and knowing that we're prone to create narratives and [trying] to dismantle your own narratives — will lead to some level of success,” Morgan said.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, Jt was stated that the LaserWeeder was autonomous.It is not.
