The Exel Industries group, which includes the crop sprayer brands Agrifac, Apache, Berthoud, Evrard, Hardi and Tecnoma, is to deploy a novel spot spraying system featuring the new 3S Spot Spray Sensor starting at the end of 2022.
The technology has been developed by Exel subsidiary Exxact Robotics that was established in 2019 to work on innovative solutions that will enable farmers to reduce their reliance on herbicides and help meet new European and global standards on sustainable agriculture.
Exxact Robotics has developed a technological solution for collecting and analysing images in real time through artificial intelligence to detect biological aggressors such as weeds, diseases and pests, and also determine fertiliser requirements. The high-precision on-board sensors used by the 3S Spot Spray Sensor system allows that information to be sent to the sprayer’s product control system to deliver the right dose to the right place.
The company has succeeded in developing fully integrated technology in the spray booms of the equipment manufactured by Exel Industries’ brands that can be used on weeds on bare ground as well as on field crops, day and night, and at speeds up to 25km/hr.
The 3S Spot Spray Sensor technology accomodates all spray boom configurations:
- Low density – one sensor every 3.0m for high precision on the most spray systems.
- High density – one sensor every 1.0m for optimal precision and better management of shadows
in row crops.
The first booms equipped with the new technology will be on the market at the end of 2022 for herbicide use. The solution will then be progressively advanced and offered on all the equipment of all Exel Industries’ brands. Further planned developments are:
- 2024 – introduction of targeted application of fertilisers and other nutrients.
- 2025 – introduction of targeted application of fungicides.
- 2026 – introduction of targeted application of insecticides.
