Weather update Robotization
Harvesting robot to rescue British vegetable industry?
Just like in the Netherlands, British vegetable production largely relies on foreign labor from Eastern Europe. In the coming years, this sector will face major challenges, with costs increasing. A first generation of robots should save a lot on labour.
KMS Project has been working for 10 years on a robot that can select, cut and collect broccoli in the field and in 2019 the time has finally come. A small series of ready-to-use machines have to get to work in the field. The 75.000 tons of broccoli now produced in the UK require manual labor to be harvested.
Preventing personnel costs
Harvest almost year round in sometimes harsh weather conditions and with a bent back. It is not surprising that British vegetable growers find it more difficult to find work and that there are relatively many health problems. Labor costs are expected to increase by 3% in the next 35 years, causing production to move to countries with low labor costs. And then we haven't even mentioned the headaches caused by Brexit.
To combat this, British broccoli growers, technicians and agronomists have united in the KMS Project. That already happened 10 years ago. The English robot manufacturer Fanuc supplies a robot that can cut broccoli in the field. The arm hangs on a normal agricultural tractor. The final model must have 3 arms, in order to be able to take over the work of 7 men. Every 3 seconds a crop is harvested by 1 arm. A seasoned Pole takes 6 seconds to do this.
More applications
The driver presets the size of the crops. The aesthetic aspects are also considered. The robot does not tire, so harvesting can be done around the clock with the help of good lighting. This season there is 1 prototype driving around in England. More will follow in 2019, and on a larger scale. The project will therefore only start with expanding the applications. It also sees opportunities for cabbage and lettuce.
Niels van der Boom
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.