Intra-row Weed Control in Organic Crops - Technical Perspectives, Capability, and Operational Costs

Abstract

The problem of increased weed populations has limited the uptake of organic farming. However, technological innovations as regards non-chemical weed control methods have and will increase the possibility of coping with weeds in organic farming. Advances in techniques like band steaming have shown to be both technical, economical and commercial viable. Expected developments within the range of robotic methods for weed control using advanced navigation tools and weed recognition technology show promising potentials. This paper defines requirements and scope of a developed band-steaming system for organic row crops. Assuming full utilization, cost reductions reach 72% as compared with the manual weeding operation. Similarly, for robotic weeding, cost reductions were assessed to reach 80%. Profitability is reduced, if automation efforts result in insufficient weed removal as compared to manual weeding. Specifically, the benefit gained by robotic weeding was sensitive to the weed intensity and the initial price of the equipment.