Agrifac AiCPlus smart spraying technology launch video

Weed spot spraying technology is hardly a novelty in the agricultural industry, with several products such as the WEEDIt system having been in the market for a number of years now.

These systems use optical technology to detect the presence of weeds (more specifically chlorophyll in weeds) in fallow soil and then instruct specific nozzles along the sprayer boom to open and close accordingly to spot spray the weeds, instead of farmers having to do a blanket spray across the entire paddock.

While tried and tested, these systems are limited in their capabilities in that they are only able to detect and spray weeds in bare soil. There hasn’t been a “green on green” detection technology…until now.

Dutch spraying expert, Agrifac, recently unveiled and demonstrated its new AiCPlus smart spraying technology for the first time on Australian soil in Moree, NSW and in Pingrup, WA.

The innovative system consists of a series of RGB cameras mounted along the sprayer boom at 3m intervals. The difference between the AiCPlus and other weed spot spraying systems on the market is the AiCPlus uses artificial intelligence to recognise weeds in either bare soil or among germinated crops.

The AiCPlus technology was developed with help from French tech start-up, Bilberry.

“The way it works, is we train algorithms to recognise weeds within crops by building databases of weed examples,” explained Bilberry CEO, Guillaume Jourdain.

“We take images of different weeds within crops and then we label the weeds in the images.

“And then we show the images with the labelled weeds to the algorithm to train it to recognise the weeds in crops.

“Once it's trained, the algorithms can then recognise weeds in the field for real. And the main criteria that we use to recognise weeds would be shape and colour.”

While the product recently made commercially available to farmers in Australia is the “green on brown” technology, Agrifac said the “green on green” product is also available for use in a restricted capacity, with the company expected to launch the product commercially within the next 12 months.

Before the official launch, the AiCPlus system was put to the test at the Beefwood farm in Moree, NSW. Mounted on the Condor Endurance self-propelled sprayer, the AiCPlus reportedly helped farm owner, Gerrit Kurstjens, save over $150,000 in spraying costs in one season. On top of that, Kurstjens also saved almost 870,000-litres of water and over 26,000-litres of chemical during the trial.

Watch the video to find out more about Agrifac’s AiCPlus technology and how it works.