A new label has appeared on Sunrise Select sweet corn sold in select Whole Foods stores, showing a Greenfield Robotics’ machine at work in a cornfield. Fifth-generation grower Bill Kercher says adding the label to the produce his family grows on about 600 acres was a no-brainer and a great way to highlight his family’s regenerative farming.
“To promote No. 1 that we were using robots in the corn to weed, not using chemical applications to control the weeds, and No. 2 to help promote Greenfield and their mission,” says Kercher, vice president of business development for Sunrise Produce.
Kercher says this is the first produce commodity using Greenfield’s technology, so his farm was the first foray into a truly consumer-facing product using robotic weeding. He says the family worked with the Greenfield Robotics team to create the label, which reads “Robot-Weeded — Our farm uses autonomous robots from Greenfield Robotics to remove weeds for a cleaner, smarter way to farm.”
The label comes with a QR code leading consumers to a webpage that discusses the benefits of robotic weeding on the Kerchers’ sweet corn, squash and pumpkins — less chemicals, healthier soil and fewer weeds. And, consumers can submit comments, too, Kersher says.
“Probably the biggest thing we’ve heard, and I quote from quite a few consumers we’ve had many just reply with one word, or send one word, and they’ll say ‘awesome,’” he adds.
Kercher has had consumers who are investors in Greenfield Robotics reach out to say they were happy to see the company’s logo on the sweet corn tray pack.
“To connect with consumers on that basis of like they’ve invested in this company, and they’re seeing their investment come to fruition through the product that we’re putting on the shelf by using what they’ve invested in, is a pretty cool full circle for us and for Greenfield,” he says.
He says highlighting robotic weeding to reduce herbicide sprays is just part of a bigger focus on regenerative agriculture practices.
“We have a long-term vision for our farm, and how it affects not just our family who lives on the farm, who works on the farm, but the broader community in which we live,” he says. “And then those consumers that consume the produce we grow, and we want them to know that we’re doing everything we can to innovate with an eye toward regenerating the soil we farm for over 100 years, and this should be seen, really, as our family trying every day to grow the best food that we can for ourselves and for those consumers who put our produce on their table.”
