About 200 people turned out on July 26 to check out the latest in sensors, robotics and irrigation automation at the Smart Orchard field day near Mattawa, Washington.
“Great to see so many people,” said Keith Veselka, managing partner of NWFM, a farm management company that operates the orchard. “I think that’s an event that will continue to grow.”
The Smart Orchard is a commercial farm set aside as a testing grounds for agricultural technology companies conducting research projects with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. The Mattawa location, featuring a block of WA 38 and Cripps Pink apples, is the third location of the ongoing effort.
Lav Khot, the project’s principal researcher from Washington State University, called the field day a success.
“A few ag-tech developers called me to say they had good, direct feedback from growers on ways to move their solutions forward,” Khot said.
At the field day, the group split into three tracks to hear five-minute presentations from more than 20 vendors with technologies ranging from an above-canopy evapotranspiration meter to an automated, tree-by-tree fertilizer applicator to an electric weed zapper. Demonstrations from self-driving equipment, such as the Prospr automated sprayer from Robotics Plus and the electric, driverless tractor from Monarch, were included.
Though the Smart Orchard features a wide variety of technology, Khot’s first focus will be irrigation and heat mitigation, he said. Numerous companies have tools that aim to better measure tree and soil water needs and then tie those measurements to devices that will automatically turn valves on and off.
“Those are things I think we’re going to learn,” said Veselka, also a member of the research commission. •
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