Are automatic agri-robots like FarmDroid part of the answer to farming net zero? Or to the huge rise in herbicide price crises? Maybe both…

The NFU is aiming to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, with UK farms (according to NFU stats) presently emitting around 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions (largely in the form of nitrous dioxide and methane).  It's a really challenging target for the industry. 

One interesting route being taken to contribute to the needed reduction - with a neat side benefit of reducing herbicide reliance and potentially increasing organic crop yield - is automated or precision weeding.  

In particular, I've been fascinated by the recent videos of FarmDroid in action, and to see some of the coverage in the farming press.  It's still pretty small scale, but the automatic robot is billed as "the world’s first fully automatic robot that both seeds and mechanically weeds" with the manufacturer keen to highlight that the robot "reduces the cost of drilling and weeding in an environmentally friendly way - it is energy independent, powered by solar panels and is CO2 neutral".

It's a small start - and as Farmers Weekly points out, the heavy kit is largely still diesel powered - but I am really excited to see some innovated new tech making some real changes on (and in) the ground. 

Net-zero targets remain at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution... But within agriculture, the alternative means of powering heavy machinery are yet to live up to the legacy of their fossil-fuelled forebears.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/will-battery-powered-farm-machinery-help-meet-net-zero-targets