A Dutch company, Rometron, has married infrared sensors and digital controls for “spot” spraying of weedkiller on agricultural equipment up to 110 feet wide. “Instead of blanket spraying an entire field with herbicides, the nozzles are activated only when a weed is detected, which the Dutch company claims will save up to 90 percent of chemical inputs on some fields,” says Western Producer. “The high energy LED lights illuminates weeds with a leaf diameter as small as 25 millimeters.”
The equipment is sold in Europe, Australia and Uruguay. An importer plans to introduce the equipment in Canada this year for “burn-off” of vegetation before planting, weed control on fallow fields and post-harvest application. The technology is pricey — around $4,400 for each one-meter unit.
Western Producer quoted spray expert Tom Wolf as saying that farmers could save significant amounts of money from equipment that minimizes the amount of weedkiller that is used. The equipment also would be a powerful public relations tool that is easy to explain to the public, he said. “It will become difficult to imagine doing a broadcast spray over an entire field when there are only a few weeds on a field,” Wolf said.