A method for cultivating Monarda fistulosa for production of thymoquinone includes planting seeds at rates between about 2.5 and about 5 pounds per acre, preferably about 4 pounds per acre. The heavy rate of planting produces plants bearing oil without weed contamination and reduces herbicide use due to production of natural herbicides by the monarda plants. Seeding and mowing the first season, and harvesting in seasons thereafter reduce costs. The method results in increased production of essential oils including thymoquinone and thymohydroquinone at levels up to about 40% or more of recovered oils, and which may be distilled from the plant.

The invention relates to a harvesting machine for harvesting elongated plants, for example such as green asparagus, wherein the harvesting machine, moving in a direction of travel, is provided with at least one in-feed device with which a plant is to be fed into the harvesting machine, at least one gripping device following the in-feed device with which the plant fed in is to be gripped, as well as at least one separating device with which a part of the gripped plant to be harvested is to be separated from another part of the plant.

Facility layouts and configurations for an automated crop production system for controlled environment agriculture. In particular implementations, the core of the facility comprises a controlled growth environment and a central processing system. The controlled growth environment includes systems for exposing crops housed in modules, such as grow towers, to controlled environmental conditions. The central processing system may include various stations and functionality both for preparing crop-bearing modules to be inserted in the controlled growth environment, for harvesting crops from the crop-bearing modules after they have been extracted from the controlled growth environment, and for cleaning or washing crop-bearing modules for re-use. The controlled growth environment may include vertical farming structure having vertical grow towers and associated conveyance mechanisms for moving the vertical grow towers along one or more grow lines. The conveyance mechanisms may include a return transfer mechanism that creates a return or u-shaped path for each grow line.

A method of collection of sphagnum moss comprising a motorized cutting and collection of at least a portion of the sphagnum moss. The cutting is performed in a direction substantially parallel to the ground and in a direction substantially vertical to the ground, while leaving the sphagnum moss anchored to the ground.

A method of collection of sphagnum moss comprising a motorized cutting and collection of at least a portion of the sphagnum moss. The cutting is performed in a direction substantially parallel to the ground and in a direction substantially vertical to the ground, while leaving the sphagnum moss anchored to the ground.

This invention relates to a precision agriculture produce harvesting system and produce harvesting apparatus configured for integration with the system, an essential feature of which is a harvesting device subsystem (100) that includes a harvesting device, for instance pruning shears (102) and a harvesting separation stroke detector (108) housed within a control module housing (110) mounted to the shears (102). A person operating the pruning shears (102) produces discernible separation strokes when the handles (104) of the shears (102) are squeezed together to produce a shearing action. The stroke detector (108) detects the separation strokes of the shears (102). By the addition of the control module (108) to the pruning shears (102), the shears are essentially converted into a data logging device by means of which important aspects of a produce harvesting process can be digitised and supplied to a harvest data digital data processing system.

A hemp harvester which strips the leaves and flowers from the stalks and branches of a hemp plant and separates them for subsequent processing includes a branch lifter for lifting and bunching the branches of the hemp plants as the harvester advances towards them; a stripper with counter rotating stripper rollers having radially extending resiliently flexible paddles which converge as said rolls turn to trap said flowers and leaves between them and strip the flowers and leaves from said stalks and branches; a capture system for capturing the separated flowers and leaves as they are stripped from the stalk and branches of the plants, a transfer and mulcher system for mulching and transferring said flowers and leaves from said capture system to a collection chamber; and an uprooting system for uprooting and collecting the stripped plants as said hemp harvester passes.

A hemp harvester which strips the leaves and flowers from the stalks and branches of a hemp plant and separates them for subsequent processing includes a branch lifter for lifting and bunching the branches of the hemp plants as the harvester advances towards them; a stripper with counter rotating stripper rollers having radially extending resiliently flexible paddles which converge as said rolls turn to trap said flowers and leaves between them and strip the flowers and leaves from said stalks and branches; a capture system for capturing the separated flowers and leaves as they are stripped from the stalk and branches of the plants, a transfer and mulcher system for mulching and transferring said flowers and leaves from said capture system to a collection chamber; and an uprooting system for uprooting and collecting the stripped plants as said hemp harvester passes.

Provided are a system, method(s), and apparatus for automatically harvesting mushrooms from a mushroom bed. The system, in one implementation, may be referred to herein as an automated harvester, having at least an apparatus/frame/body/structure for supporting and positioning the harvester on a mushroom bed, a vision system for scanning and identifying mushrooms in the mushroom bed, a picking system for harvesting the mushrooms from the bed, and a control system for directing the picking system according to data acquired by the vision system. Various other components, sub-systems, and connected systems may also be integrated into or coupled to the automated harvester.

A dual cut header assembly a header, a chopper suspended from the header, and at least one actuator is provided between the chopper and the header for adapting a distance between the chopper and the header. The dual cut header assembly further includes at least one sensor for measuring a state of the chopper, and an actuator steering module connected to the at least one actuator. The header is provided to be lifted by an agricultural combine to cut crop material from a field at a first height. The chopper is provided to cut the crop material at a second height lower than the first height. The actuator steering module is configured to automatically adapt the distance based on the measured state.