Posted on 09/30/2017 2:03:05 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
LONDON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- In what has been described Friday as a world first, a farm field in Britain has been planted and harvested completely by autonomous vehicles and drones without any farmhands in sight.
The hands-free crop farming was delivered in joint project by Harper Adams University in Shropshire and Yorkshire-based Precision Decisions, in an initiative partly-funded by the government agency, Innovate UK.
The renowned agricultural university and Precision Decisions announced Friday the successful completion of "Hands Free Hectare", a project to plant, tend and harvest a crop using only autonomous vehicles and drones.
A spokesman for Innovate UK said: "Using this method returned a yield of 4.5 tonnes of spring barley, against a predicted yield of 5 tonnes. It demonstrates that an entire crop can be grown from start to finish without people ever needing to go into the field to directly work the land. The team believes it's the first in the world to farm a crop in this way. They now plan to replicate the trial with a winter crop."
A number of machines were used in the trial. A lightweight Iseki tractor did the spraying, drilling and rolling. The harvest was then completed with a Sampo combine harvester.
Field work to support decision-making was also done autonomously. Drones with multi-spectral and RGB color sensors were used to take aerial images of the field, while a smaller Scout vehicle was used to video at crop level and physically take samples.
These were sent back to the agronomist to analyze and assess what chemicals to apply and where, and when the crop was ready for harvest.
Smaller machines were specifically chosen to limit the impact on the soil, improve precision and plant health.
Innovate said this supports the thinking that in future, farmers will manage fleets of smaller, autonomous vehicles. These will go out and work in the fields, allowing the farmer to use their time more effectively.
The whole project cost less than 268,000 U.S. dollars, funded by Precision Decisions and Innovate UK.
So let’s open the borders that only makes sense
“A generation from now, much of the hard labor of farming will be a thing of the past.”
I could not help but laugh at that. MOST of the hard labor of farming has long been a thing of the past for a long time already.
“Once they figure out how to do it across all industries, no more need for workers beyond a few people in any industry.”
Hence the drive to reduce world population by ninety five percent.
“Like we don’t spend enough time on equipment maintenance now!”
But the goal is to have machines building machines and maintaining machines. A master mechanic of the sort who used to command a greater respect and higher income than most of the white collar class will be as useless as mammaries on a male. I do believe that is the plan and I don’t think I like the future.
Yes, my father wears khaki pants, and gray felt hat most of the time. There was a time a good Stetson or Resistol was the badge of a successful farmer, rancher, lumberman or oil man.
Handshake was like a dozen contracts. There are still industries like that, but they are going away due to the legal nonsense that is so prevalent in our lives.
Creeping Socialism is a killer of Nations and States.
Once the robots take over and kill all puny humans, farms won’t be needed any more.
And when nobody knows how to grow food anymore, then all people will be completely at the mercy of the government.
Our sailboat has one of those small fridges. I’ve been looking at trading up and since we’ve had this boat so long I know exactly what I want now. A full size fridge. A walk around bed (tired of having to crawl into the king size v berth). A regular shower stall.
I hate the small fridges. I have to go to the store every couple of days here. Once you get a few waters and sodas in there there’s not much room left for food.
I’ve been looking at larger under the counter marine fridges to put in an RV and have been impressed with the Isotherm 200 side by side in stainless steel. Variable speed Danfoss compressor for very low power usage, looks really nice, flush mount with the cabinetry. Perfect height for under the counter. 7 cubic feet, a little over 5 for the fridge, a little less than 2 for the freezer. A little pricey but not hideously so.
That’s really not far off from what they all cost. The cutout needed for it is too big for our boat. Our max height is 32 and it’s under the nav table so no adjustments possible. I want a full size fridge! Lol
I know. My thing is I hate grocery shopping so if I can cut it down to once a week instead of 2-3 times per week I’m a happy camper. My neighbors that live on their trawler have to go to the store every other day because they have a small fridge too.
Nova Kool has a side by side that might be low enough, 7.5 cu ft. but wider. Not as pretty but you can put panels on the doors to match cabinetry if you want.
Looks nice. Still too small. Lol
I’m in the process of redoing all the countertops and flat surfaces on the boat. White marble in the salon and galley. I did the vanity and countertops in the master berth and head in black marble.
Thanks. I think I’ll just live with the fridge I have til we buy a different boat. With the grandkids all growing up this one gets a bit crowded with 3-4 of them on board. I’m looking at 41-45 ft motoryachts. Much more room than sailboats. Our boat is 40 foot and roomy but there’s nowhere to store luggage so when they’re on board it looks like a friggen dorm room. Lol
I’m retrofitting a classic GMC motorhome, want to keep the flexibility that it originally came with, it’ll sleep six in a pinch but it’s better suited for two, so I know what you mean. It’s only 26’ but it’s the only motorhome I’ve ever liked or wanted. They update surprisingly well, very forward-thinking for 1978. My catch is making a dry bath that actually has a usable shower scaled to normal sized human beings. That’s what is motivating the desire to put the fridge under the counter. Induction cooktop flush mounted into the counter above, then a range hood convection microwave above that. Nice foldaway sink with cover to match the solid surface countertop, same for the induction cooktop, so the whole thing will look sleek with usable counter all the way across when the kitchen’s not in use. Got to get creative to make a nice space out of a small space. There is a type of stretchy netting that can look good when properly installed on the undersides of upper cabinets, in the bath and in any nooks and crannies, that can handle the excess “stuff” when you have a big crew aboard, looking at that too.
This makes about four agricultural revolutions in the works.
1. automated farming.
2. vertical farming (city farming) big cities all over the world
a. greenhouse farming at humongous scale (netherlands spain)
3. aquaculture at scale
4. cheap desalination leading desert farming. (happening in israel)
Large scale irrigation in desert areas due to breakthroughs in desalination technology will change the climate in Israel and anywhere downwind. Evaporation and cloud formation will lead to natural rainfall. Deserts aren’t permanent. Many of them to my knowledge were to some extent verdant within history of known human habitation.
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