BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — As a farmer, Chuck Baresich says he has always been interested in how technology could help growers and he says he has used his family’s farm over the years to demonstrate new innovations from biologicals to new pesticides, growing systems, auto steering, cover crops and of course, robotics.
Baresich, president of Haggerty AgRobotics and Haggerty Creek farming operation, shared Ontario’s unique approach to ag tech trials at the Great Lakes Tek Flex. He notes that growers consistently face structural labor shortages.
“I have yet to talk to a farmer who says that they have too many employees at certain times of the year.”
Four years ago, Baresich purchased several autonomous weeding units to test on his own fields. He quickly realized the machinery was ill-suited for corn and soybean operations, finding its true application in high-value vegetable and fresh produce fields.
How the Ag Robotics Working Group Bridges the AgTech Gap
gAfter a few phone calls with Extension agents, the Ag Robotics Working Group was established. The working group began as a conference call on Friday mornings to discuss how to use the robots, what growers to work with, how to measure the impact of the robots and more.
Today, the Ag Robotics Working Group includes more than 500 international members across Canada, the United States, and Europe who convene weekly.
“We’ve been trying to build an ecosystem of robotics companies, entrepreneurs, farmers that are looking at the technology, academics, government, venture capitalists and funders, all within close proximity,” he says.
Why Real World Conditions Expose Agricultural Technology Limits
Baresich says the Ag Robotics Working Group conducts applied research on farms in real-world conditions. This includes ag tech in prototype form and equipment further in the development pipeline.
“We are bringing the ecosystem together to actually see what these machines look like in real life, not just doing it,” he says.
Technology developers frequently partner with the Ag Robotics Working Group to analyze why prototypes stall in specific market segments. In many cases, developers underestimate real-world field scale, moisture limitations or heavy soil conditions.
“What we’re doing through our ecosystem building is we bring the robotics companies and the farmers together, and they get to see how tough these conditions actually are,” he says.
Sometimes ag technology companies don’t realize how big a commercial field is or that equipment can’t get wet or doesn’t work in mud.
“Rather than having a university researcher working a project over here in isolation, and a technology company working over here in isolation, and a farmer building something in their shop in isolation, we’re trying to share what we’re all doing, and we’re putting this together to try to have a better outcome,” he says.
Overcoming The Global Differences in AgTech Adoption
Baresich says what he’s discovered through the Ag Robotics Working Group is that agriculture is far behind in technology adoption.
“We haven’t figured out whether the robots should have seats on them,” he says. “We haven’t figured out whether the robots should be battery or diesel. We haven’t figured out whether they should be on tracks or on tires.”
Projects that are a part of the Ag Robotics Working Group are multi-year trials. Often, the first year the technology is deployed as the manufacturer intended.
“And often it’s a complete failure, because they don’t generally fit our ecosystem,” he says, noting it’s often different crops grown, soil types and more. “Farming in Denmark is much different than farming in Ontario.”
Baresich says when working with ag tech companies, a major part of the initial discussion is about the problems the innovation hopes to solve. Then, it evolves into how the innovation is intended to be used. He says, the Ag Robotics Working Group sets up the trials in a way in which the equipment would likely be used by a grower.
“What we find with the tech companies is quite often when they demonstrate their robot, they will set up a test model in a way that they know their robot can succeed,” he says. “What we tell them is that, no, we’re going to set this up the way that we want.”
Information provided by the Ag Robotics Working Group about its trials focus on just the outcome of the trial. But, he says “quite often you will find that a machine that was built for one purpose actually does migrate into another purpose.”
And sometimes, Baresich says the working group has to have difficult conversations with ag tech companies.
“Sometimes we have to be honest with the tech companies and say a farmer is not going to write a check for that as far as we can tell,” he says. “That’s what adoption means — is the farmer is actually paying for it.”
Case Study Testing FarmDroid Solar Field Robots on Onion Crops
Baresich points to an onion trial featuring the FarmDroid, an autonomous, solar-powered field robot designed for precision seeding and in-row weeding. Originally engineered for sugar beets, a crop not commercially grown in Ontario, adapting the unit for onion production required a three-year effort and custom-engineered seeding disks.
“We really liked how this robot worked,” Baresich says. “We liked how it seeded. We liked its precision. What we found is that there is a use case for growing onions with this robot.”
Baresich says it was three-year times span to have the FarmDroid running successfully in onions. This included some custom seeding disks to make it work.
“What it has done for both the company and the farmer, the farmer is now ready to buy several of these robots to convert the farmer to using the FarmDroid robot,” he says. “This is what the outcome of a working group project looks like — it’s far more adoption, which is really the key.”
The working group’s momentum led to the establishment of the Innovation Farms Network, which spans four locations, including Innovation Farm Ontario—a 2,000-acre commercial farm and vineyard. The Ag Robotics Working Group provides the priorities and ideas to test and then the Innovation Farms provides the space. This farm network provides regional testing that is public information.
“This farm operates as a potential test bed for any technology that wants to be tried,” he says. “It offers farmers and technology companies a risk-free space to bring the technology and try it out, testing solutions in real-world conditions.”
