Agricultural technology firm Saga Robotics has announced that its autonomous robotic platform Thorvald, developed to pick strawberries, has had its ‘biggest season’ to date at Clock House Farm.
The robots eliminate the need for fungicides to control the development of mildew on strawberries, instead using UV-C light.
Accord to Saga, this season’s productivity prove its credentials as an authority on automated Integrated Pest Management.
In total, Saga reports that it was able to completely control the pathogen treating all of Clock House Farm’s 30 hectares (74 acres) of crops.
Anne Dingstad, CEO, Saga Robotics, says, “Making an impact and creating real value, as requested by our growers, means being able to help them reach their full crop potential, while reducing waste, use of chemicals and carbon emissions.
“Drawing on our experience at Clock House Farm from the past three years I’m proud to say our team is delivering on our mission.
“Operating on a full farm also means being able to operate the robots safely and consistently throughout the whole season.
“We yet again demonstrated that the technology works by autonomously driving 10,000 linear kilometres this season only, the equivalent of driving from London to Edinburgh over 15 times.
“It’s also been a year where we have accelerated our preparations for commercial scale and secured new funding, both of which we know will contribute to a sustainable, modernised and efficient agriculture in the coming years.
“Our technology isn’t just proven, its significant commercial impact is now beyond doubt too.”
Saga Robotics intends to partner with more growers in 2023 in preparation for the commercialisation of some of its services, which it plans to embed into its Thorvald robot platform.
What’s more, integration will form part of Saga Robotics’ ambitions for its Integrated Pest Management portfolio next year and the scaling-up of its UK operations in 2024.
