Growmark, one of North America’s largest agriculture supply cooperatives, has partnered with agtech solution provider Solinftec to trial a new scanning and field monitoring robot.
According to the announcement sent to The Spoon, the new robot is powered by a neuro-network that features a detection algorithm to scan for crop health and nutrition, insects, and weeds, as well as monitor the entire field and provide real-time insights back to the farmer.
Growmark will trial the new robot for the bulk of the 2022 farming season and work with Solinftec to optimize the technology for planting to harvesting. This trial is the first evaluation of a farming robot under Growmark’s AgValidity testing program, the coop’s program to evaluate new ag technology products.
Growmark’s partnership with Solinftec is a sign of growing interest in automation on the farm. Coops serve as an important channel for new technologies to make their way into everyday use on the farm. With a network of regional FS coops that spans 40 states and into Canada, Growmark holds significant sway in technology used by farmers.
“We are looking at the future of farming,” said Lance Ruppert, Growmark’s director of agronomy marketing technology. “We have been working with and utilizing Solinftec’s leading agricultural technologies for over three years and are excited to partner on a project with the potential to change farm practices for the better of the industry and environment.”
One interesting aspect of the trial is Solinftech is pairing its robot with its ALICE AI platform, which essentially acts as a farm operating system. The robot will coordinate with the ALICE platform to orchestrate the machine’s operations. In the future, I expect we’ll see some farms deploying farm OSs that help farmers to plan and control operations of their farm, down to the robots roaming the field. By working closely with coop networks like Growmark’s, this future may arrive sooner rather than later.
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