News & novelties 03/02/2023
In the Biospray project, ARA proved its potential for Sustainable and Non-Selective Herbicide & Pesticide Use in Agriculture.
Discover Project Biospray in under 5 minutes
Project Biospray is an industrial challenge project: the goal is to adapt Ecorobotix's ultra-high precision technology to meet the needs of biocontrol applications and conduct field trials.
Sugar beet was selected as the crop for the trials because few chemical synthetic herbicidal active ingredients are available today and further reductions are expected in the coming years.
Therefore, the Biospray project targeted three crop care applications in sugar beet: selective application of pelargonic acid (organic herbicide), azadirachtin and spintor (two organic insecticides).
The field test results across two seasons showed satisfactory weeding results and a reduction in insecticide use. Furthermore, herbicide savings of ~70-95% can be made using ARA's Ultra-High Precision Sprayer.
More agronomic tests are needed to validate the exact efficiency of these new biocontrol products and fine-tune machine performance for this use-case.
Biocontrol products can be used both in conventional farming and bio/organic farming. However, the formal homologation of these biocontrol products is still ongoing for use in organic/bio farming.
Project Biospray is supported by the agROBOfood programme. This EU initiative promotes the effective adoption of robotic technologies and accelerates digital transformation to make the European agri-food sector more efficient and competitive.
At Ecorobotix, we are dedicated to delivering cutting-edge precision spraying technology that empowers farmers to significantly reduce herbicide usage. Data from nearly 3,000 missions in onion fields using our ARA ultra-high precision sprayer reveals impressive results, with nearly 70% of all missions achieving herbicide savings of 80%, and some missions saving as much as 98%.
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Noud van Gog, a farmer and contractor based in Liessel, Netherlands, manages a substantial area of chicory and sugar beets, covering 580 hectares and 710 hectares, respectively. Dedicated to keeping his fields clean from weeds, he employs a strategic mix of mechanical weeding and spraying with Ecorobotix’s ARA precision sprayer, aiming to minimize chemical usage while maximizing crop health and yield.
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Spray drift is a major concern for farmers and governments alike, as it wastes resources and harms neighboring crops, ecosystems, and public health. Strict regulations have emerged to address this, and innovations in spray technology are key to compliance.
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