- Author: Trina Kleist
- Posted by: Gale Perez
AI-trained machines slash labor costs
Experimental robots are reducing the costs of hand-weeding by learning the difference between weeds and lettuce. In addition, steam can clear the soil of fungi and spores that cause lettuce and spinach to wilt, reducing the need for chemical herbicides in the bargain, according to the latest research by Steve Fennimore and his lab at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
Fennimore, a professor of Cooperative Extension, presented his findings at a recent meeting of the California Leafy...
- Author: Kristin Burns
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Steve Fennimore, UC Davis Plant Sciences faculty member and UC Cooperative Extension weed specialist, and colleagues received the 2020 EurAgEng Outstanding Paper Award for the paper, “Crop Signalling: A Novel Crop Recognition Technique for Robotic Control,” which was published in Biosystems Engineering.
The research represents a breakthrough in differentiating weeds from crops using machine vision systems. The technology could help California growers address challenges...
- Posted by: Gale Perez
The Western IPM Center's May 2017 newsletter just came out.
The IPM VIDEO OF THE MONTH is on a robotic herbicide sprayer that targets weeds.
- Author: Steven Fennimore
There are few new herbicide active ingredients in the pipeline now. In the 1970s and 1980s several new active ingredients were introduced every year. There were lots of jobs in industry and weed science was the place to be. I myself was with ICI/Zeneca from 1983 to 1994 in their R&D group. However, we are now in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century and new herbicide active ingredients might cost $300 million from discovery to launch. Needless to say there are not many new active ingredients in the pipeline. We have a few agricultural chemical companies that are screening for new active ingredients and perhaps the large scale of glyphosate resistant weed problems will stimulate some of the agricultural...
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
From the UC Davis News Service • January 21, 2015
Led by Professor David Slaughter of the UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, the project recently received a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
