Are Autonomous Machines the Answer to Your Farm Labor Challenges?

Autonomous machines and technology hitting the market today eliminate the need for human labor for specific on-farm tasks. If you’re struggling to find reliable, affordable labor, these innovations may present solutions. But how do you know it’s time to invest?

“This has been going on forever,” said Chad Hart, Extension economist at Iowa State University. “What is different now is that the sophistication of the machinery is such that it’s replacing labor that, say a generation or two ago, we couldn’t imagine that there would be a machine that would do that type of work.”

Do Your Research

“Farmers really have to sit down and put some pencil to paper,” Hart said.

In deciding if an autonomous machine is right for your operation, he said, consider the cost of the machine compared with the cost of labor, factoring in maintenance costs over the life of the machine and if the machine fits the size of your operation.

David Beard, who farms in west-central Indiana, recommended researching the technology’s effectiveness and reliability. He said he is in his second year using a Solinftec Solix autonomous sprayer to help grow non-GMO soybeans. The machine scans the field and only sprays weeds. Beard said besides saving him time, the technology’s precision saves him from spraying the whole field, reducing herbicide injury to the soybeans.

“If you’ve got a special situation, like we do with the non-GMO [soybeans], then you can pencil a little bit more value in it from that standpoint,” he said.

Time Is Money

Hart said it’s important to consider the value of your time.

“If I’m allowed to do something else, it’s like there’s two of me,” he said. “And so, I should reflect that additional cost savings. If I don’t have to have two of me, I don’t have to hire another person.”

According to Dinen Subramaniam, product launch manager with OutRun by PTx Trimble, lost time could cost you tens of thousands of dollars. He said his company estimates 33% of Midwest crop acres see a 10% yield loss due to late harvest. For a 2,000-acre corn farm, with a 250 bushels-per-acre yield and $4 corn, this equates to $66,000.

OutRun is aftermarket technology added to a tractor to autonomously pull a grain cart during harvest. The initial investment is $55,000, and there is an annual $15,000 fee. Subramaniam said the technology can pay for itself in two or three years, given the amount of money the company can help farmers save in time and lost yield.

He said OutRun is not intended to replace human labor but to supplement it. To reduce wait times during harvest, he said he tells farmers to hire their usual amount of labor in addition to using OutRun.

“We’ve estimated that every 10 minutes costs an operation $200 in lost yield, simply while they’re waiting,” he said.

Another risk of late harvest Subramaniam highlighted was late residue management.

“With the late harvest, your crop residue hits the ground later,” he said. “It starts being processed by microbes later in the year, and therefore, the microbes have a smaller window before it gets too cold and they go dormant. This means that crop residue sits like that until spring starts, warms up the soil, and the bacteria and the microbes start breaking that down again. While your microbes are alive and breaking down that crop residue, they’re tying up all the existing phosphorus and nitrogen that’s in your soil, which means farmers have to have more inputs to make up for those same levels.”

Autonomous May Not Mean Expensive

Hart pointed out that autonomy may also lead to smaller, more affordable equipment. He explained that historically, machinery needed to get bigger so fewer laborers could farm the same ground. This led to ever-growing farms.

“Typically, the larger you were, the more you could spread out that equipment over those acres, the lower your cost per unit was, and therefore, your bigger farms tended to be your most efficient farms,” he said. “And that’s why they tend to dominate and grow.”

If the human element is removed and the option to buy multiple smaller machines arises — what Hart called a “swarm” approach — the playing field could be leveled between big and small farms, Hart explained.

Case in point: the Solix sprayer. Taylor Wetli, U.S. commercial and business development manager at Solinftec, calls it “a new avenue to control weeds early and often while also saving chemicals.” He pointed out that at $50,000 for a 40-foot boom, Solix costs less and is smaller than an average sprayer, but the intent is to buy one for each field or subset of fields. Essentially, the solar-powered sprayer lives in the field and continuously roams it, looking for weeds while also producing a scouting map.

“We’re really focused on how do we build this at a cost point that makes sense for the grower that they can scale it across acres,” he said. “So, we have a simple unit that’s also a very intelligent unit doing a complex task.”

Beyond the Dollar

If you’re considering new technology or machinery, factors such as convenience and liability also may tip the scale toward investing. Beard, the Indiana farmer, described some of the factors he weighed when he considered investing in a grain and feed bin monitoring system.

“I think the sensor was $600 a bin and we have 30 bins, so that was going to add up pretty quick,” he said. “But over time, if you factor in someone for an hour a day, three or four days a week, climbing bins, that eventually is going to pay for itself. And then, you factor in having to climb a bin ladder when it’s icy in the wintertime and somebody potentially getting injured. If you don’t have to do that, well then, that makes things a little easier, [and] makes it a little easier to spend the money, as well.”