It’s no secret labor is one of the top challenges for agriculture across most types of crops, and one area where ag robotics could play a major role. UK-based farm automation startup Muddy Machines is tackling that problem starting with asparagus.
“For every worker that an asparagus farm is short [of], they’re losing up to 25,000 pounds of crop per season,” Muddy Machines founder and CEO Florian Richter recently told AgFunderNews managing editor Louisa Burwood-Taylor.
Not that Muddy Machines is limiting its Sprout field robot to just one crop. Courgette [a.k.a. zucchini] harvesting, lettuce harvesting, weeding and beans are just a few of the other areas Sprout will take on in the future.
“We really want to be the company that solves the problem of how to get more robots into the field,” said Richter.
At the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, he explained how Muddy Machines plans to do that. He also shared his thoughts on the AI and whether it will take jobs, as well as how farm robotics startups can collaborate more productively.
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator