The Soil Essentials Scottish Agricultural Service, based in Agnus County in eastern Scotland, is developing an intelligent camera-based crop management system that allows farmers to reduce the standard use of agrochemicals by up to 90%.

Designed to be ready for use on farms over the next three years, the new system is based on a re-trainable smart camera that can recognize, map and accurately apply agrochemicals to intended crops or weeds.

“The goal is that in the very near future we have an affordable technology that can accurately distinguish between different types of crops and weeds and, therefore, ensure accurate treatment with agrochemicals. Ultimately, this technology will allow farmers and agronomists to significantly reduce the total amount of crop protection products applied to crops in the UK and around the world, ”said Jim Wilson, Soil Essentials Managing Director.

At this stage, the development of a draft feasibility study for the Grass Vision system has already been completed. Grass Vision uses an inexpensive machine vision system to successfully recognize weeds on pastures and accurately apply herbicides.

The next task is to apply the same process to arable crops. Initially, the new development will be available as an element of the contractor for use by trained operators, but in the future its use may be expanded to the level of ordinary farmers.