Jurgens Produce farm decides to buy new technology Robotti after trial period
A North Queensland farm is the first in Australia to test a jewel of technology to would help farmers plant seeds and monitor crops.
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A North Queensland farm is the first in Australia to test a jewel of technology that would help farmers plant seeds and monitor crops without any need from human workforce.
This bears the question of whether agricultural workers are about to lose their jobs.
The Robotti, which does not cost more than a tractor, is an autonomous implement carrier developed in the Netherlands that can independently perform various agricultural tasks, allowing farmers to use it nights like days, with the motored engine having an autonomy of 60 hours.
CEO of Jurgens Produce Jamie Jurgens said their farm located in Bowen was chosen to take part in a program to test the machine on their land, learn how to use it and consider how much would need to change within the farm to adapt to the new technology.
Would the Robotti end up stealing people’s jobs?
For Mr Jurgens, the machine is not a way for the farm to “save some staff” but rather increase its efficiency and grow the business.
He said this created the opportunity to upskill workers who would evolve in the sorts of tasks they could carry out “if they want to learn how to operate the robot”.
“It’ll take someone’s job but it will create another’s job, a more highly skilled job,” he said.
“You’ll need more of a technical person rather than a person who’s got the ability to operate machinery,”
“It’s two different roles,”
Mr Jurgens said there are still a lot of areas within his farm that needed people like harvesting, irrigating or picking and the idea was not to let workers go.
“It will actually help keep people employed,” he said.
Mr Jurgens said the trial had been a success and they were planning to buy the machine, and in the long run, operate at least three of them.
Is it worth the price?
The Robotti costs $300,000, which Mr Jurgens says is not more than buying any type of machinery for agriculture.
But the real cost of switching to that new form of technology is to adapt all the different implements they already have “to fit the machine”.
“We’re building a system at our farm to work with the machine,” he said.
“We have to modify some of the implements that we use to work on our farm now. That means adapting them so they can go on the back of it so … we can do more talks with it,”
He said this was a worthwhile investment as the machine would increase productivity since it would operate all night long and won’t need any breaks.
How does the robot work?
The Robotti is a light weight robot that has to be programmed before it can operate its tasks.
Once it knows its environment and the tasks it needs to do in a set area, it is completely independent.
“We have GPS lines in our farm, and we program them into the machine,” Mr Jurgens said.
“You need to groundproof the paddock with the machine, so you drive the machine around the paddock and set up the limits for the machine,”
“You set up how you want it to turn around, where you want it to turn around, and when you want it to use the implement,”
When asked if the machine had ever malfunctioned during its trial period, Mr Jurgens said it had not happened saying the technology was top notch.
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