I’ve never had the misfortune of being called ‘artificial’ or the privilege of being called ‘intelligent’ but last week I let some Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the gate. It came in the form of a local contractor with his new AI sprayer.

A broad-brush description is that it is a boom sprayer fitted with cameras. Each camera detects the weeds (docks in this case) and the machine sprays them with a pressurised jet of spray.

This technology had intrigued me earlier in the year when I had phoned the supplier to do a bit of tyre-kicking as I wasn’t aware of a contractor locally with one. The substantial price tag, combined with a small farm and a dislike for machinery depreciation, was enough for me to thank him for his time and information.

Benefits

Primarily at that time, I was only connecting the dots on the saving in chemical as well as tackling docks in clover swards, as I’ve had mixed outcomes with products that are supposed to be clover safe.

After the conversation with the supplier, I learned that there was also a substantial yield saving in grass. We’ve all sprayed a field and either conditions, application or dilution haven’t been perfect. Subsequently the crop of grass starts to look unhealthy and shrinks a bit.

Quantifying the yield loss is difficult but hearsay would suggest a potential loss of two tonnes of fresh grass per acre.

While I take this with a pinch of salt, it is fair to say that even a one-tonne saving is substantial.

Other benefits I realised while watching the contractor at work were savings in water, filling time and running back and forth to the yard to replenish the tank.

There should also be more forgiveness with spraying conditions. The hood over the boom should shelter the spray from the wind to a degree and given the weeds are the only plant getting sprayed the job should be able to take place in harsher weather conditions as it won’t affect the grass.

Taking everything together I see it as a complete no-brainer. There are environmental, economic and logistical benefits – it’s nearly as obvious as milk processors paying for milk solids over yield.

Adopt

I’ve probably been a bit slow to adopt technology on the farm partly due to the reasons listed, but also because I’m a firm believer in working with a simple system. This in itself removes the need for some of the new kit.

But more importantly, when I crunch the numbers on other technology that I would consider, it’s generally the corporate seller that wins and my main contribution to their business will come when the technology needs replacing.

Wish list

However, one piece of technology I’m holding out for is combined grazing management and heat detection collars. I’m aware of one brand in New Zealand and have emailed them. They responded saying they weren’t in the market here. Hopefully they find their way here shortly.

Until then, I’m now more open-minded about looking at some other new technology that will benefit the farm. Perhaps an app that can write articles for me would also be useful, but then again that would be too obvious as my editor wouldn’t have any spelling mistakes to correct.