Here from the project startup at at Viken, Frosta. From left; Tore Moksnes, Karl Martin Viken, Jostein Sandvik and Tor Henrik Viken
With labour intensive repetitive tasks, and high demand for precision, vegetables and fruit growing are a perfect match for autonomy. Most operations are also well suited for electrification. For AutoAgri this is one of the hottest segments within Agriculture, says AutoAgri CEO, Jostein Sandvik.
Its with great pleasure we can announce that Grofondet are supporting our fruit and vegtables test program with 1 MNOK. Together with the knowledge of Gartnerhallen and their dedicated growers, this is an important step towards the electrification and autonomy for AutoAgri.
In cooperation with several Gartnerhallen manufacturers, among them Røstad Øvre at Levanger and Viken Gartneri at Frosta we are going to identifye plan and execute different operations with different crops . Examples are seeding, planting, weeding and possibly bed forming.
Compared to the use of traditional tractors we expect to see cost savings on labour and fuel. The soil will also benefit from the lighter vehicle, and we may see increase in yield over time. Better area utilisation due to shorter headlands are another potential benefit.
For us economy, HES and the challenges regarding the availability of seasonal labour is the most important reasons for participating in this project. In addition we are generally interested in new technology, says Tore Moksnes.