September/October 2022 - 25

WWW.FRESHPRODUCE.COM INTERNATIONAL FRESH PRODUCE ASSOCIATION
Where are all the robots?
Over the pa s t
By Vonnie Estes
Vice President,
Agfood Tech
Innovation, IFPA
s e ver a l mon t hs ,
the winners of the
International Fresh
Produce Association
Fresh Field Catalyst
Accelerator program
have been immersing
themselves in the
produce indust ry.
In some cases, these
c omp a n i e s
h ave
solutions that exist in
agriculture but haven't quite dabbled
in produce, or they may be in specific
regional markets looking to go global.
The goal of the Fresh Field Catalyst
is to recognize these companies with
solutions that are ready for or already
in the market and to help speed the
development of these solutions to be
adapted to the produce industry.
Between our monthly webinars,
immersion week in the spring and the
winners' preparation to participate at
the Global Produce & Floral Show's Food
Safety and Tech X-Change segment of
the Expo, they've learned a lot about the
industry - and we all have learned a lot
about the solutions on the horizon for
our industry. I recently sat down with
representatives from winning company
Nexus Robotics, an automation company
founded five years ago by engineering
students from Halifax. We talked about
automation, solving labor problems and,
of course, robots.
In my conversation with Teric Greenan,
COO of Nexus, and Luc Labbe, CEO of
Nexus, I learned that the company's genius
exists at the juncture of unfettered critical
design thinking and extensive agronomic
knowledge. I learned a lot about how
their technology works, which provides
a solution for a task that is as basic as the
technology is complex: weeding.
From climate change
impact to the everchanging
fight against
pests and disease,
compounded with issues
like reliable labor sources,
the need for intelligent
automated solutions
continues to grow.
Why weeding? Simply put, Teric, a city
kid who fell in love with agriculture, was
absolutely shocked when he realized how
much time and resources were being
spent on repetitive and frankly, least
enjoyable, tasks. No one believes that
farm work is easy or that all tasks are
equally as desirable or rewarding. Add
that to the current workforce challenges
facing our industry, and there is an everincreasing
urgency to find solutions for
those repetitive and backbreaking jobs.
We all agreed that
this is where
automation will grow first: addressing those
dirty, dangerous jobs that no one wants.
So, where are all the robots? They're
coming but scaling and development is
an iterative process that takes time. It's
an extraordinary feat to consider that
this team, like others in their field, are
creating an automated robot that crawls
fields, can recognize and differentiate
between weed and crop, and knows how
to pluck that weed out of the ground
without damaging the fruit or vegetable.
That level of intelligence and physical
equipment requires a great investment
and a smart commercialization plan.
Luc described their " robot as a service "
approach, allowing companies to lease
robots throughout their seasons instead
of purchasing their own permanent fleet.
It may take years, decades even, before
we see a fully automated field workforce.
However, one of the key approaches to
adoption will be the ability to consolidate
skills and tasks. We're not far off, though,
as Luc shared that their current iteration
is not only weeding as it passes over
some lettuce fields but thinning out the
lettuce as well. This ability to consolidate
and increase the versatility of these
tools will not only drive the adoption
but exponentially increase the value
for a farmer.
The robots are coming, but for now,
they're learning and growing. While we
help to teach these bots to emulate the
tasks of humans, we keep performing
these tasks and keep pushing through
the countless variables that make
agricultural work difficult. From climate
change impact to the ever-changing fight
against pests and disease, compounded
with issues like reliable labor sources, the
need for intelligent automated solutions
continues to grow. Not only will we need
companies and innovators like Nexus, but
we'll need farmers who are willing to be
early adopters to accelerate the learning
and refinement needed for robots to be a
meaningful labor-replacement solution.
Anyone interested in learning more
about Nexus or any of the other Fresh
Field Catalyst Winners can visit with them
at the Global Produce & Floral Show Expo
from Oct. 28-30 in Orlando, Florida.
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
25
http://WWW.FRESHPRODUCE.COM
September/October 2022

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