Guiding Cultivators Offer Cost Savings To Growers
July 1, 2007 
Growers in California’s Salinas Valley report significant savings when using an automatic cultivator guidance system. The system, made by Eco-Dan in Denmark, steers the cultivator independently of the tractor so that a tractor-mounted cultivator using the system will stay centered on the row even if the tractor moves off the row.
The system has a camera that is mounted on the cultivator and is continually taking pictures of the row. When the camera moves off the row, the picture changes. The control unit detects this change and moves the cultivator to keep it centered on the row. The cultivator is mounted on a side shift toolbar, which is moved back and forth by a hydraulic cylinder.
One grower who is cultivating three 80-inch-wide beds with six rows per bed reports that instead of cultivating 25 to 30 acres per day at best, they are now cultivating 40 acres per day. Using costs from the most recent University of California Cooperative Extension lettuce cost study for lettuce production in Monterey County, the grower is saving $10 per acre.
Reducing The Width
University of California research led by Steve Fennimore showed that with the Eco-Dan system the width of the uncultivated area around the row could be reduced from 5 to 3 inches. Weeding costs were reduced by 10% to 35% and 40% less herbicide was used on the 3-inch band.
Another grower using the Eco-Dan plant system has increased cultivating speed to 3 miles per hour from 2 to 2½ miles per hour, thus reducing cultivating time per acre and reducing cultivation costs by almost $3 per acre. His major cost savings have been in reduced weeding costs due to the ability to cultivate closer with the system. He says his weeding costs have been reduced by up to $50 per acre.
No More Crop Damage
An additional major benefit of the Eco-Dan system is the virtual elimination of cultivator damage to the crop. “Cultivator blight” or “iron worm damage,” two common terms used to refer to cultivator damage to crops, is caused when the tractor drifts off the row. This can happen to even the most experienced cultivator tractor driver, especially at the end of a long day.
With the Eco-Dan system every tractor driver becomes a cultivator driver since the system steers the cultivator. No longer do growers have to worry about finding a highly skilled tractor driver to operate their cultivator. Drivers have also sufficient time to monitor other operations that may be done at the same time as cultivation, such as sidedress fertilizer application, since the system is keeping the cultivator precisely centered on the rows.
Interestingly enough, the concept is not really new. In the late 1980s when the author was with the University of California Agricultural Extension Service, Dr. David Slaughter of the University of California-Davis developed a similar system that was tested in the Salinas Valley. Unfortunately, the University never licensed the technology to private industry.
RoboCrop, a cultivator guidance system made in England, is entering the California market and is marketed by Solex Corp. Its basic operation is similar to the Eco-Dan system; however, it scans multiple rows and will not lose contact if there is a long blank area in a single row.
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