The invention concerns a method using a robot for an automatic treatment of a weed, the method comprises steps of capturing images of said weed with a camera on said robot; determining with said images a distance between the weed and a second vegetable organism; and selecting a treatment tool of said robot for a treatment of the weed from a group of treatment tools as function of said distance.

The invention further concerns a robotic vehicle for carrying out the method for an automatic treatment of a weed.

A pick-and-place system for plant embryos includes a tray for receiving a suspension of plant embryos. The tray is movable to repeatedly reposition the plant embryos. An identification system is proximate the tray for identifying a target plant embryo amongst the plant embryos in the suspension. The identification system is configured to identify the target plant embryo while the tray is moving. A robotic arm is proximate the tray and is in communication with the identification system. The robotic arm is actuatable to pick the target plant embryo out of the suspension while the tray is moving, and deposit the target plant embryo at a target location.

Seeds are subject to ultrasonic treatment to enhance and reduce the time for the germination process. In particular to this invention, the seeds are treated ultrasonically while the seeds are in a dry state. A dry sonification process for a dry seed and apparatus produces a sonically-treated dry seed having an enhanced germination characteristic and providing an enhanced growth characteristic to a plant resulting therefrom. The sonification process includes subjecting the dry seed to be sonically treated to sound energy at a frequency and energy density and applying for a sufficient time such that the sonically-treated dry seed has an enhanced germination characteristic and a plant resulting from the sonically-treated dry seed has an enhanced growth characteristic. The ultrasonic treatment can include applying the ultrasonic sound energy in different alternating waveforms, or in a batch or continuous process, with continuous flow through a helical flow path.

Seeds are subject to ultrasonic treatment to enhance and reduce the time for the germination process. In particular to this invention, the seeds are treated ultrasonically while the seeds are in a dry state. A dry sonification process for a dry seed and apparatus produces a sonically-treated dry seed having an enhanced germination characteristic and providing an enhanced growth characteristic to a plant resulting therefrom. The sonification process includes subjecting the dry seed to be sonically treated to sound energy at a frequency and energy density and applying for a sufficient time such that the sonically-treated dry seed has an enhanced germination characteristic and a plant resulting from the sonically-treated dry seed has an enhanced growth characteristic. The ultrasonic treatment can include applying the ultrasonic sound energy in different alternating waveforms, or in a batch or continuous process, with continuous flow through a helical flow path.

A method of irrigating a saline aquaculture system to control pests is described herein. The method includes acquiring a second set of environmental condition data on a computing device using a sensor coupled to a platform, such that the platform is configured to grow a salt-tolerant plant therein; comparing the second set of environmental condition data to a first set of environmental condition data acquired at a previous time point; determining whether freshwater accumulation has increased or will increase at a future time point on a surface of the platform; when it is determined that the freshwater accumulation on the surface of the platform has increased or will increase relative to the previous time point, activating a saltwater distribution device coupled to the platform; and reducing an accumulation of one or more of: insects, caterpillars, fungi, and bacteria on the surface of the platform.

A method of irrigating a saline aquaculture system to control pests is described herein. The method includes acquiring a second set of environmental condition data on a computing device using a sensor coupled to a platform, such that the platform is configured to grow a salt-tolerant plant therein; comparing the second set of environmental condition data to a first set of environmental condition data acquired at a previous time point; determining whether freshwater accumulation has increased or will increase at a future time point on a surface of the platform; when it is determined that the freshwater accumulation on the surface of the platform has increased or will increase relative to the previous time point, activating a saltwater distribution device coupled to the platform; and reducing an accumulation of one or more of: insects, caterpillars, fungi, and bacteria on the surface of the platform.

A modeling framework for estimating crop growth and development over the course of an entire growing season generates a continuing profile of crop development from any point prior to and during a growing season until a crop maturity date is reached. The modeling framework applies extended range weather forecasts and remotely-sensed imagery to improve crop growth and development estimation, validation and projection. Output from the profile of crop development profile generates a combination of data for use in auxiliary farm management applications.

A modeling framework for estimating crop growth and development over the course of an entire growing season generates a continuing profile of crop development from any point prior to and during a growing season until a crop maturity date is reached. The modeling framework applies extended range weather forecasts and remotely-sensed imagery to improve crop growth and development estimation, validation and projection. Output from the profile of crop development profile generates a combination of data for use in auxiliary farm management applications.

In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises receiving permanent properties data for a plurality of agricultural sub-fields of an agricultural field; determining whether at least one data item is missing for any sub-field of the plurality of agricultural sub-fields in the permanent properties data, and if so, generating additional properties data for the plurality of agricultural sub-fields; generating preprocessed permanent properties data by merging the permanent properties data with the additional properties data; generating filtered permanent properties data by removing, from the preprocessed permanent properties data, a set of preprocessed permanent properties records corresponding to a subset of the plurality of agricultural sub-fields in which two or more crops were grown in the same year; applying a regression operator to the filtered permanent properties data to determine a plurality of intra-field variations values that represent intra-field variations in predicted yield of crop harvested from the plurality of agricultural sub-fields.

In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises receiving permanent properties data for a plurality of agricultural sub-fields of an agricultural field; determining whether at least one data item is missing for any sub-field of the plurality of agricultural sub-fields in the permanent properties data, and if so, generating additional properties data for the plurality of agricultural sub-fields; generating preprocessed permanent properties data by merging the permanent properties data with the additional properties data; generating filtered permanent properties data by removing, from the preprocessed permanent properties data, a set of preprocessed permanent properties records corresponding to a subset of the plurality of agricultural sub-fields in which two or more crops were grown in the same year; applying a regression operator to the filtered permanent properties data to determine a plurality of intra-field variations values that represent intra-field variations in predicted yield of crop harvested from the plurality of agricultural sub-fields.