Growers put seeding and weeding robot to the test

Gatton producer Troy Qualischefski has started using the world's first autonomous seeding and weeding robot the Farmdroid FD20.

Mr Quailschefski said the implementation of the FarmDroid into his operation, was part of a collaboration with DAF and the Gatton Smart Farm.

The solar powered robot uses a geo-cordinate seeding system to plant each seed marked out by a pre-programmed geometrical seeding pattern.

It can conduct inter-and intra-row weeding before the crop is visible, which saves time and effort extracting much larger weeds that have had the chance to grow.

Whilst it has been an adjustment, Mr Qualischefski said he has already seen the benefits of using the technology.

"It's a whole new mindset...FarmDroid is not just a tool, it's a whole new farming system," he said.

"It worked all over Easter, it worked all night, some nights it kept going all night, depending on how hard the ground was.

"When it's planting you can do 24 hours a day with it, it uses a bit more energy with weeding...it stops at about 2:30am and starts again at 8am."

The fourth generation farmer runs Qualipac with his father Russel and brother Bradley. They grow onions broccoli and pumpkins over 1000 ha of land on their farms, which are located in the Lockyer Valley and eastern Darling Downs. Their packing facility is located 90 kilometres west of Brisbane in Gatton.

Mr Qualischefski said they were introduced to the FarmDroid at a conference they attended in California and were keen to try out the technology as a way to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

"We got that machine in August last year, post our winter season, so we have planted maybe 100 acres (40 hectares) of broccoli with that machine to date, in about three to four weeks, and it's working wonderfully " he said.

Mr Quailschefski said whilst the FarmDroid may not be able to plant greater amounts of crops as opposed to other larger machinery, it had other capabilities that had proved beneficial for his business.

"The beauty of this machine is that it can come back and weed what it has planted," he said.

"It GPS marks each plant to a degree and knows exactly how to weed that block.

"It's very accurate, it's highly accurate, it's within 5 millimetres of accuracy.

"It's a light weight slow moving machine, it can get on the fields a lot quicker and because it's slow, you can inter-row cultivate at a really young age.

"This means you can get in and weed when they are little, it's easier."

Mr Qualischefski said they are trying to remove costs, not people from their business.

"We want good people in our business, we are getting rid of a job that no one really wants to do anymore, that's what we are trying to do," he said.

As part the changes they are making, they are currently conducting trials examining the outcome of different levels of chemical use on their crops.

"We are looking at dropping chemicals out. We have three different trial plantings here at the farm at the moment, some with our standard practice, some with half of our standard practice and some with no chemicals.

"We are looking to see how the plants will work without any pre-emergent chemical.

"We have never done that in all my career of farming...in the next few weeks we'll probably see some of the results."

Whilst he is optimistic about the use of the FarmDroid, Mr Qualischefski said that it would take time to determine if his investment in the technology has been a success.

"The way it is looking yes, but you would have to ask me three months after we harvest the crop, we'll have a lot more data , we are really at the early stages of planting."

Mr Quailschefski said he is looking to import the machines through a company called Farm Tech Australia for other producers who are interested in purchasing the technology.