Customer Story: Reducing the use of chemicals
Conventional farmer uses robot technology to reduce the use of chemicals in his agriculture
Meet Joost Derks: Joost runs a family farm in the southern part of Holland, where they grow 450 ha. At the farm, they cultivate potatoes, onions, sugar beets, chicory, weed and corn.
They have grown chicory and sugar beets for generations. It is ideal for them to grow these crops because of the soil conditions, and that is also the reason they decided to grow it.
One of their biggest challenges with chicory and sugar beets is the weed and to kill the weeds, they use chemicals. However, they want to reduce the use of chemicals drastically. There are several ways to approach this, but the right solution for them was to invest in a FarmDroid robot. Joost uses the FarmDroid for 10 ha sugar beets and 12 ha chicory. He thinks that the robot is a great machine. The quality of the machine is good, and you get a lot of worth for your money. After seeding, the robot starts weeding, and that workflow is ideal to get the best possible result.
Joost uses the FarmDroid for 10 ha sugar beets and 12 ha chicory. He thinks that the robot is a great machine. The quality of the machine is good, and you get a lot of worth for your money. After seeding, the robot starts weeding, and that workflow is ideal to get the best possible result.
About FarmDroid FD20 FarmDroid FD20 is a solar-powered field robot that can seed and weed. It uses high-precision GPS technology to seed crops in the field and for this reason it knows where the seeds are placed. Since it knows the position of each seed, it can weed with extreme precision both between the rows and inside the rows. The robot is powered by four solar panels, and thus fully electrical and CO2 neutral. It can run up to 24 hours a day solely on the energy produced from the solar panels. FarmDroid FD20 can take care of more than 30 different crops, and we are constantly testing new seeds. More than 400 robot is already running troughout Europe, North America and Australia.
It takes time to get started with the FarmDroid, so you need to be open-minded. Everything considered, Joos warmly recommends the robot. He can see how much it is improving each year.
If you are interested in buying a FarmDroid, Joost’s best advice is to talk to someone with a robot. You need to see the robot in action, check the field and talk to the farmer. The farmers are happy to share their experiences, so do not hesitate to reach out.