3 hi-tech tools that are helping solve perplexing labor puzzles

While automation and artificial intelligence have taken many industries by storm in recent months, labor for the vast majority of specialty crop agriculture is still accomplished by human hands. Ask any farmer with dirt under their nails and they’ll confirm that growing food is exhausting, labor-intensive work.

Farm tasks such as planning the season, seeding, transplanting, cultivating, harvesting and transporting fresh produce — not to mention problem-solving challenges that come along the way — is over and above a full-time job for a farm manager. Completing these tasks efficiently and ensuring profit margins can perplex even the savviest entrepreneur.  

Often, the most expensive investments a grower will make on their farm operation are in people, not fancy toys and tools. And while agtech has yet to crack the code on the produce industry equivalent of ChatGPT, several clever businesses are piloting new technologies that help growers hone labor efficiencies, improve clunky workflows, eliminate redundancies and level up communication across the supply chain.

Saving time by communicating in the cloud

The logistics of farming over many acres can create inherent communication hurdles. Jotting down notes with pen and paper, while helpful, doesn’t provide timely updates for your fellow farmer located 10 acres due west. While phones and walkie-talkies can be handy in a pinch to deliver need-to-know details, nothing compares to an app that is available and synced with up-to-date information sitting in the back pocket of everyone on the team, updating in real time.

What’s more, GPS tracking embedded into communication apps can share time-sensitive information that is site-specific, empowering farmers in the office and the field alike to make informed decisions about what’s happening and where it’s at in a moment’s notice.   

Farm management software AgSquared is one of the farmer-focused apps helping growers track farm operations and labor in the cloud. 

Not only does the app keep up with farmworker hours, breaks and location, but AgSquared can also track inputs like pesticides and fertilizers, mapping location and logging application times. The app can also analyze farm operations from a bird’s-eye view and calculate costs, said Kevin Hannigan, vice president of sales for AgSquared.

“The field guy just needs to click a few buttons and you can track costs fairly accurately and send notifications to the entire team,” Hannigan added.

The software is sold as an all-in-one farm management software subscription package that empowers more transparent, productive and profitable farms.  

After the fresh produce has left the farm gate, the communication shifts from the harvest crew to the logistics and farm operation team. 

Tive, a tech company that specializes in tracking produce shipments, offers produce-tracking software products like the Tive Tag and Tive Solo 5G tractors that give visibility into shipments as they are happening and sends alerts if there’s an issue. 

“At Tive, we believe that the biggest challenge facing producers and retailers is visibility — because you can’t fix what you can’t see. When you can track your perishable shipments in real-time, you can see where they are and what condition they’re in, and you can take immediate action to reduce spoilage, minimize waste and improve customer satisfaction,” said Lauren Seigel, senior marketing programs manager for Tive. “With never-ending supply chain disruptions, visibility is the key to success.” 

Another tech company catering to produce shipping and logistics, Procurant recently partnered with Uber Freight to digitize truck brokering, offering a software product called Procurant Ship. What was once smoke and mirrors, through a collaboration with Uber Freight, now grower-shippers can get a quick view of transparent cost profiles and real-time shipping via a digital dashboard. 

Procurant Ship allows grower-shippers to see Uber Freight’s transportation rates and to secure load shipments, all while responding to an active purchase order. 

“This partnership is a game-changer for grocery retailers and their produce suppliers, and it will bring much-needed relief to an industry struggling with rising transportation costs and truck availability. With this partnership, we move one step closer to a more cost-effective and streamlined fresh food supply chain,” said Procurant CEO Eric Peters.

A robotic technology that zeros in on automated solutions  

Once the farm has dialed in communication, robotics technologies like automated harvesters, timed fertilization and irrigation, and drone monitoring can significantly reduce the amount of time spent inspecting, monitoring and cultivating crops. 

Carbon Robotics, an AI-powered robotics agriculture tool company, just released a fully automated laser that can precisely target weeds. The tool, coined LazerWeeder, targets thinning and weeding for over 40 varieties of crops, according to a news release.  

“LaserThinning is a breakthrough approach and delivers benefits that are an order of magnitude better than existing solutions,” Matt McGuire, general manager at JV Farms, said in the release. “This technology is revolutionizing how we handle weeding and thinning, bringing dependability, speed and accuracy to our farming practices.”

Juan Calderon, director of farming operations at Duncan Family Farms, agreed that the machine creates on-farm efficiencies. 

“The LaserWeeder is a consistent solution that enables us to effectively manage weeds so we can put our focus, labor and resources toward other important operational tasks,” said Calderon. 

This technology, helpful for direct-seeded crops, like leafy greens, and cole crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale and kohlrabi, can reduce dependency on hand labor or herbicides. 

“With our pace of innovation, we offer a software extensible tool that addresses farming’s most pressing challenge — weeding — and expands to tackle other problems such as thinning,” Paul Mikesell, CEO and founder of Carbon Robotics, said in the release. “The LaserWeeder enables farmers to accurately execute crop thinning and weeding without disturbing crops or soil, helping to improve crop yields and soil health.”