Agriculture stakeholders talk about keeping up with new innovations in streamlining agricultural production
Robots have invaded Adrian Struyk's dairy farm, and he couldn't be happier.
Struick runs the 1,250-acre farm, just north of Cochrane, along with his wife, Margaret, and two sons, and produces milk, syrup, canola, oats and wheat. The family also does custom work on an additional 2,000 acres.
Since taking over the original 450-acre farm in the mid-1990s, the family has grown their land holdings, making numerous improvements along the way, adding tile drainage, installing a grain processing facility, and building a free range barn for farming. Its young stock.
But as their project grew, the old dairy barn, in particular, needed some attention.
“It took a great deal of manual labor and the majority of our family's workforce to take care of the cows morning and evening,” Struijk said during the 2024 Northern Ontario Ag Conference in Sudbury on Feb. 13.
“Our next step was to address these issues, keeping in mind that the future of our family farm should be in the hands of our children.”
After weighing their options, the Struijk family decided to build an automated dairy barn, which became operational in December 2022.
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Among the technologies the company has adopted are two Lely robotic milkers, which milk cows automatically, monitoring cow activity, rumination, rest time, temperature, and milk quality and quantity.
The Barn-E robot cleans manure in the barn, keeping the aisles clean and helping to prevent foot problems in cattle, Strueck said. It works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will send an alert if a problem arises.
The Ranger robot, made by Robivec Agrisolutions, autonomously provides feed to the livestock, ensuring they have access to it at all times.
The Maximus system, which controls lighting and ventilation in the barn, monitors indoor temperatures, outdoor temperature, wind speed and direction, and rainfall, and adjusts ventilation levels accordingly. Lighting is controlled by time and lux sensors so that cows receive a constant level of light throughout the year.
The system monitors temperature and stray voltage, and issues an alert if there are any problems.
A little more than a year since the system came online, Struijk said he has seen significant improvements in his organization.
“These management tools are invaluable to the smooth running of a dairy operation,” Struijk said. “This shows up in improved health, milk production and reproduction.”
Ian MacDonald, a field crop specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, believes the agriculture industry is actually on the cusp of a technological revolution.
Most farmers already use robots in some capacity – smartphones, digital watches, banking machines, computers, and cars.
But bringing the technology directly to the farm could help address labor shortages and improve the quality of life for producers, MacDonald said.
He believes technology on the farm could have the same impact that smartphones had when they were introduced to the world, replacing stereo systems, data storage and telephones with a single device that fits in a pocket.
“In about five years, the entire communications and entertainment industry has been turned upside down,” MacDonald said.
“What happens when this kind of disruptive change comes to agriculture?” He said. “Are we ready for this? How will we adapt to it? What will it mean?”
MacDonald is one of about 150 stakeholders who are part of the Ontario Ag Robotics Working Group, which was formed in 2021 as a way to share ideas about the technology and how it could impact the sector in Ontario.
He said Ontario has an opportunity to engage with innovative new companies from around the world that are developing new agricultural technology.
Part of the working group's goal is to create an environment where companies can come to Ontario, test their technology, interact with academics and farmers, and get more of that technology to market.
“The future is really elegant. It's kind of scary, it's expensive, and the face of change is going to go on and on,” MacDonald said.
“But my God, are the things that are becoming available to us interesting? Farms will change and we will have to change with them.
Some of this new technology is currently being tested by companies such as Haggerty AgRobotics, based in Bothwell, South London, in southern Ontario.
Jason Garibbo, project manager at Hagerty, explained that Hagerty is working with companies from around the world whose technology is in various stages of commercialization to see if it can be used here at home.
If the technology is successful, they help try to promote it in the sector. If it needs further tweaking, they provide feedback to the manufacturers.
“We really believe (robots) will be a powerful tool for the future of crop farming and agriculture in general,” Garibeau said.
Robots like Oz, made by French company New Technologies, which Garibeau describes as “one of the popular machines around the world,” is a small, battery-powered robot that can operate for about eight hours on a single charge.
It works similarly to a tractor as the implements are interchangeable and replaceable as needed. As a smaller machine, it is useful for managing about 10 acres per day.
His older brother, Oreo, can also use different tools. Hagerty tried this using a spray system that allowed them to control the amount of spray being applied, while the robot autonomously navigated around the field, Garibeau said.
The Robotti, made by Danish company AgroIntelli, closely reflects the versatility of the contemporary tractor, as existing implements can be added to it.
They used the diesel-powered robot to plant 100 acres of corn and 50 acres of sugar beets, and it handled the task without any problem, Garibeau said.
“This robot was one of our favorite robots because we could sit at Tim Hortons and watch it from a distance and we could rely on it to farm effectively,” Garibeau said.
Lely's Vector robot, shown in the video below, automates the cattle feeding process.
Since the Stroijks made their foray into mechanized farming, they haven't looked back, and are already planning to add more technology to their operation.
Within the next few months, the family plans to install the Lely Vector robot, which will mix different animal feed recipes, deliver feed to the animals, and monitor feed levels to ensure it is available to the cows at all times.
Looking to the future, Struijk said they will also be installing a Lely Calm calf milk feeder, which will feed calves milk in the correct amounts and at the correct temperature, day and night.
“This will result in healthier, stronger calves with optimal growth and development,” Struijk said.
He noted that the shift to robots on the farm overall has brought consistency and flexibility to the process.
Although many jobs still need to be completed by people, they are less time-sensitive and now usually only need one person to do them, he said.
“We now have the ability to better focus and allocate our time to our agricultural efforts, whether it is during the busy planting season in the spring or the harvest in the fall,” he said.
“Robotics and technology have allowed us to continue and grow as a family farm.”
