By Jeff Floyd
Certified horticulturist and arborist
In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency removed MSMA from the list of herbicides the turfgrass industry uses to control weeds. Since the chemical ingredients convert to a toxic form of arsenic, there was a concern, and even some evidence, that it would reach animals and people. The turfgrass industry fought back hard but eventually lost the battle.
Today MSMA can only be used in special situations. The loss of MSMA meant that farmers and lawn pros lost one of their most effective weapons in the battle against grassy weeds. In the effort to find newer and better ways to reduce competition from weeds, scientists are relying evermore on robots.
Agronomists are always searching for better ways to control weeds. They aren’t just unsightly in the lawn, they also rob crops of nutrients, reduce yield and increase your grocery bill. Weed control is costly. Not controlling them in food crops is even more costly. Like a plant identification app you can download to your phone, robots use visual references programmed into their software to determine if they are “seeing” a weed or a desirable plant. If a weed is detected they are programmed to zap it.
As you can easily imagine, when this technology first rolled out, it was miserably wrong as often as it was right. Researchers expected this. As artificial identification software has improved, robot accuracy in detecting weeds has improved. What are these robots zapping weeds with? The answer is still herbicides, but they use very small amounts. In fields where these machines are being studied, almost all are still just experimental, they travel as fast as a modern cultivator, use greatly reduced amounts of herbicides, and will achieve higher crop yields at lower production costs, eventually!
Developing in parallel with this type of artificial intelligence are advancements in laser technology. Improvements in wavelength capacities and the equipment which emits the beam, promise to provide effective weed control without chemicals. This all bodes well for lower food prices and less exposure to toxic chemicals, right? Let’s explore that next time.
Until then, consider this, the methods used to control weeds in crops usually find their way into your lawn. Imagine a small robot traversing its way across your lawn mowing grass and killing weeds simultaneously without any herbicides being sprayed or you breaking a sweat. Believe me, that day is coming, assuming we don’t all swap our grass for a nice patch of artificial turf. In that case, we’ll see something like a small, unmanned vacuum making its way across our lawn. Oh wait, we already have those.
