LIVERMORE, Calif.—Topcon Agriculture has introduced Transplanting Control, a new system for specialty farmers. Designed to reduce labor, boost efficiency and increase production, the turnkey system provides global navigation satellite system (GNSS) based guidance, auto-steering and control, benefitting producers of permanent and perennial trees, fruits and vegetable crops, the company said.
“Manual measurement is still common practice in areas where specialty and permanent crops are grown,” said Michael Stone, vice president of product development at Topcon Agriculture. “Our precision GNSS-based guidance and control allows for more elaborate planting patterns, and has been proven through countless industries and applications. This now-affordable transplanting technology can help growers increase crop production by up to 15%, if not more.”
Use cases include growing Christmas trees, cherry trees, strawberries and lettuce, as well as digging post holes and conducting soil sampling, the company said.
The solution eliminates manual labor required to physically outline fields and provides streamlined setup through an easy-to-use task planning interface. Farmers can also expect reductions in fuel and other inputs through the reliability of GNSS, resulting in fewer mistakes and corrections.
“Crops placed in an optimized space maximize available resources like soil nutrients, water, sunlight; this also allows more accessible angles for maintenance, like cleaning and weeding, which will further improve output,” Stone said. “More uniform transplanting executed through GNSS generates a healthier crop for increased production and quality. This technology can even improve efficiencies with tasks like soil sampling and post hole digging.”
