Ground and Aerial Robots for Agricultural Production: Opportunities and Challenges

Crop and animal production techniques have changed significantly over the last century. In the early 1900s, animal power was replaced by tractor power that resulted in tremendous improvements in field productivity, which subsequently laid foundation for mechanized agriculture. While precision agriculture has enabled site-specific management of crop inputs for improved yields and quality, precision livestock farming has boosted efficiencies in animal and dairy industries. By 2020, highly automated systems are employed in crop and animal agriculture to increase input efficiency and agricultural output with reduced adverse impact on the environment. Ground and aerial robots combined with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have potential to tackle the rising food, fiber, and fuel demands of the rapidly growing population that is slated to be around 10 billion by the year 2050. This Issue Paper presents opportunities provided by ground and aerial robots for improved crop and animal production, and the challenges that could potentially limit their progress and adoption. A summary of enabling factors that could drive the deployment and adoption of robots in agriculture is also presented along with some insights into the training needs of the workforce who will be involved in the next-generation agriculture

Effect of Diet and Sire Line on Grow-Finish Performance

Two experiments were conducted to determine the influence of sire line and dietary energy levels on grow-finish pig performance. In each experiment, dietary treatments were corn-soybean meal based diets with no added fat and corn-soybean meal based diets with fat added and soybean meal adjusted to maintain a similar lysine: calorie ratio. Fat additions to the added fat diets ranged from 3.75% for the 40 to 70 pound body weight period to 1.5% for pigs over 220 pounds body weight. Within each of five phases during the growing-finishing period, feed budgets were used to maintain a similar total caloric intake between experimental diets. In both experiments, pigs were progeny of Danbred NA 230 females. In Exp. 1, the sire lines compared were Danbred NA 771 versus Danbred NA 671. In Exp. 2, the sire lines compared were Danbred NA 771 versus Danbred NA 600. There were no interactions between sire line and dietary treatment in either experiment. There was no effect of dietary treatment on daily gain. In Exp. 1, feed conversion was improved 6.8% and in Exp. 2, feed conversion was improved 3.7% for the fat added diets versus the control treatment. The lack of daily gain response, when combined with the lack of a genetic interaction, suggests that for these genetic lines daily gain is not a consideration in the decision regarding the use of fat in grow-finish diets

Use of Swine Manure to Improve Solid-State Fermentation in an Integrated Storage and Conversion System for Corn Stover

Swine manure contains a host of chemical and biological constituents which make it desirable for amending lignocellulosic biomass in storage for year round processing in a biorefinery. Application of swine manure in an integrated biomass storage and conversion system was investigated to determine the potential for improved conversion of corn stover to organic acids and soluble carbohydrates during ensiling. Corn stover- swine manure mixtures were prepared containing swine manure at rates of 0%, 15%, 30%, 45%, and 60% while simultaneously being adjusted to 65% moisture on a wet basis and ensiled for 0, 1, 7, and 21 days. Samples were analyzed for pH, dry matter, water-soluble carbohydrates, and organic acids. All treatments, with the exception of the 60% manure substrate, produced a pH less than 4.5, which is sufficient for stable storage. Water-soluble carbohydrates were highest in the control treatment, producing a level of 3.0% DM at day 21. Lactic acid production was unaffected by the rate of manure, with a concentration of 2.8% DM reached at day 21. Acetic acid production was improved with the manure substrates. Manure amendment rates of 30%, 45%, and 60% produced the highest acetic acid concentration of 1.8% DM. Treatments of 0%, 15%, 30%, and 45% swine manure would be acceptable substrates for use in this system; however, if preservation of fermentable carbohydrates is a higher priority than organic acid production, then the pure corn stover substrate would be the most appropriate material to use.This article is from Transactions of the ASABE, 50, no. 5 (2007): 1901–1906.</p

Ground and Aerial Robots for Agricultural Production: Opportunities and Challenges

Crop and animal production techniques have changed significantly over the last century. In the early 1900s, animal power was replaced by tractor power that resulted in tremendous improvements in field productivity, which subsequently laid foundation for mechanized agriculture. While precision agriculture has enabled site-specific management of crop inputs for improved yields and quality, precision livestock farming has boosted efficiencies in animal and dairy industries. By 2020, highly automated systems are employed in crop and animal agriculture to increase input efficiency and agricultural output with reduced adverse impact on the environment. Ground and aerial robots combined with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have potential to tackle the rising food, fiber, and fuel demands of the rapidly growing population that is slated to be around 10 billion by the year 2050. This Issue Paper presents opportunities provided by ground and aerial robots for improved crop and animal production, and the challenges that could potentially limit their progress and adoption. A summary of enabling factors that could drive the deployment and adoption of robots in agriculture is also presented along with some insights into the training needs of the workforce who will be involved in the next-generation agriculture