Friday, 14 February 2025 08:25

Ecorobotix announces NZ dealership

Written by  Mark Daniel
Ecorobotix ARA ultra-high precision sprayer. Ecorobotix ARA ultra-high precision sprayer.

Swiss-based Ecorobotix has announced its entry into the New Zealand market through a strategic partnership with Canterbury-based New Zealand Tractors.

The collaboration introduces farmers and growers to the ARA ultrahigh precision sprayer, which offers a new spotspray technology to transform farming practices and the use of phytosanitary products.

The introduction of the ARA sprayer is said to provide game-changing advantages for agriculture in NZ, delivering lower labour costs by drastically reducing the need for manual weeding crews, addressing a major challenge in the industry, saving time and money.

The ARA’s ultra-precise 6x6 cm application format also serves to minimise the use of phytosanitary products and promotes environmental sustainability by helping to reduce herbicide use by up to 95%.

Additionally, crops are said to be healthier by avoiding unnecessary herbicide application on crops, so promoting healthier, faster-growing plants with less phytotoxicity.

Said to be versatile and efficient, beyond weeding, the ARA sprayer can also apply phytosanitary products and fertilisers with pinpoint precision, offering unmatched efficiency across multiple farming operations.

It is configured with a dual, front-mounted water (600l) and product tank (300l). The chemical mix is pumped to the rear, where three, 2-metre enclosed spraying modules feature 156 highprecision spray nozzles spaced at 4cm apart, to cover the 6-metre working width.

Suitable to operate at speeds of up to 7.2km/h, outputs of 3.5 to 4ha should be easily achievable. The enclosed spray modules also means that spraying can also take place in windy conditions, if necessary, as any spray drift is eliminated.

ARA is designed to operate in a wide variety of crop types including, sugar beets, potatoes, onions, spinach, beans, thistles, docks and grassland weeds, offering precise spraying of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, fertiliser and bio stimulants.

In operation the machine takes high-speed photographs as it passes over the ground, using three-phase, plant by plant recognition driven by AI, before activating specific spray nozzles for product application, while at the same time recording statistics automatically to the Cloud for future analysis of areas covered, amount of product used and a site-specific application map.

Algorithms can be crop specific, to control the application of selective herbicides close to the crop, the application of non-selective herbicides, with a predetermined safety zone, alongside the application of fungicides, insecticides, fertiliser and bio-stimulants to the crop only, or the whole area, with the exception of the growing crop, with safety zones.

Non-crop specific algorithms offer universal functions, including green on green herbicide application for weed control pre-planting, or the application of fungicides, insecticides, fertiliser and bio-stimulants, on all green plants only.

Meanwhile, band spraying can be catered for, with a specific row algorithm, treating weeds between the rows, or applying all major product types to the growing crop only.

New Zealand Tractors owner Grant Reith comments, “we have carried out extensive due diligence and believe that this product will make a huge difference to spraying operations for specialised growers, with a massive reduction in chemical usage, but also to grassland farmers who wish to target problem weeds like docks or thistles. It also makes a positive impact in reducing ecological impact and improving plant health and vigour, to the point where crops like onions are harvest-ready up to two weeks earlier.”

Visit www.nzt.nz

More like this

Gongs for best field days site

Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.

Featured

Gongs for best field days site

Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.

Feed help supplements Canterbury farmers meet protein goals

Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.

National

Machinery & Products

Yamaha acquires Robotics Plus

New Zealand based company Robotics Plus, a specialist in agricultural automation, has announced an agreement for it to be acquired…

Ecorobotix announces NZ dealership

Swiss-based Ecorobotix has announced its entry into the New Zealand market through a strategic partnership with Canterbury-based New Zealand Tractors.

Sorting unwashed potatoes made easy

Downs, a leader in potato reception, automated sorting, and storage, has introduced its new high-throughput optical sorter for unwashed potatoes…

Jumbo X saves time and money

A winner of a prestigious ‘Technical Innovations 2024’ award by FederUnacoma at the EIMA show in Italy, the Maschio Jumbo…

NH unveils specialty tractor

New Holland recently showcased its new-generation T4.120 F specialty tractor, giving New Zealand customers a closer look at the winner…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Risky business

OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.

Should've waited

OPINION: The proposed RMA reforms took a while to drop but were well signaled after the election.

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter