$47.3 million allocated to improve efficiency through automation, genetics

By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press

Self-driving tractors and other precision ag tools have become mainstream in field crop production, but in the tree fruit industry those are still fledgling technologies.

Researchers from around the U.S. recently gathered in Wilsonville, Ore., to discuss the future of automation and precision agriculture in tree fruits and other specialty crops.

Progress is being made thanks to USDA funding through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, which in 2009 invested about $47.3 million in projects aimed at improving mechanization, efficiency and genetics.

Sanjiv Singh, research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, is working on a system for gathering and managing data about apple orchards and nurseries.

Static and mobile sensors pick up information about soil moisture, plant size and even insect damage.

Those millions of data points create a "point cloud," which can be used to generate three-dimensional maps of orchard and nursery conditions over time.

The information could also help autonomous vehicles maneuver through the orchard, loading bins of apples without damaging trees.

Cris Dima, also a researcher at Carnegie Mellon, envisions fleets of autonomous tractors mowing and spraying citrus orchards, all the while collecting data to predict yield.

Such information can help farmers make decisions about contracts and other logistical issues. The technology could even detect pests and disease, allowing for "precision spraying" -- using pesticides only in the exact areas they're needed.

In peach production, blossoms are hand-thinned to boost fruit size, but the process is labor-intensive.

Paul Heinemann of Pennsylvania State University is experimenting with a mechanical thinner developed by a German company, which non-selectively knocks flowers off the trees with strings.

Currently, however, the tractor operator must frequently adjust the device to ensure it's hitting the tree at the right angle.

Heinemann wants to improve the thinner's functionality, so that it automatically conforms to the tree structure and allows the operator to focus on driving.

He eventually wants to develop a selective-thinning system that would use sensors and a robotic arm to remove the blossoms -- potentially with a laser.

Altogether, the U.S. tree fruit industry hopes to reduce production costs by a third through improvements to genetics and engineering, said Jim McFerson, manager of the Washington Tree Fruit Commission.

To accomplish that goal, there will not only need to be innovations in machinery, but also in orchard systems, he said. "It's really a way of approaching problems that has a larger view."

Staff writer Mateusz Perkowski is based in Salem, Ore. E-mail: mperkowski@capitalpress.com.