John Deere has been implementing the concept of reducing pesticide use in agriculture for several years. John Deere has already achieved success with its See and Spray pesticide application system. Which is equipped with recognition cameras capable of detecting weeds in the fields.
The See and Spray system is based on what John Deere calls the “Green on Brown” principle. It consists of detecting green weeds on a brown field, which means the system infects weeds by color, not by the shape or appearance of the weeds.
The company John Deere, said the successful testing of See and Spray on the territory of the USA, the use of the system John Deer See and Spray on farms allowed to reduce the use of pesticides, or rather their type – herbicides (the type of pesticides, which is used to kill weeds in agriculture) for more than 60%. And now John Deere has released the See and Spray system in Europe.
Herbicides are chemicals used in crops, fruit and berry plantations, pastures, hayfields and other agricultural crops to kill weeds.
Working principle of See and Spray system
The number of cameras depends on the length of the boom, cameras are installed on average every 80 cm. , i.e. 1 camera per 1 m of working width of the irrigation boom, also the cameras are installed on the tractor chassis itself. Exactly this arrangement of cameras, is able to identify green weeds with an accuracy approaching 100%.
In addition to cameras, other components and sensors required for proper operation of the See and Spray system are also installed
Once the camera captures the plant, the software recognizes the green plant, and signals to a specific nozzle or nozzles, which are turned on individually for spot treatment or the identified area.
John Deer See and Spray Applications
John Deer See and Spray, not only is it suitable for preemergence tillage, it can also be used for postemergence tillage. The sprayer identifies rows of crops, and only weeds between the rows. This allows the See and Spray system to be used throughout the growth stages of row crops, right up to when the crown is closed.
John Deere says See and Spray is like a human eye, detecting all weeds visible to the eye.
Rigorous testing for See and Spray
The John Deere See and Spray, has been tested and proven on more than 100,000 acres of fields around the world under a wide variety of conditions and crops.
John Deere, said the John Deere See and Spray, is comparable with a deer spray system that is uniformly used by farmers around the world but with greatly reduced costs.
John Deere says the application success is comparable to spread spraying, but with savings of up to two-thirds of the application rate, a figure that has been replicated in Europe, giving Deere confidence that it will be launched at SIMA this year.
The See and Spray Select system is already being sold as an option to self-propelled sprayers in the United States. This year, these machines will be the first on the Central European market.
From the beginning of 2023, it will be available in limited quantities for the European R900i series trailed sprayers with 36 and 39 m boom, and then in the future it will be offered as an option on various John Deere sprayers from Horst.
