The ATB will be presenting a selection of its current research projects at the world's largest agricultural technology exhibition and leading international trade fair for agricultural technology in Hanover! At this year's AGRITECHNICA, ATB will be sharing a stand with the Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences Department of Agricultural Engineering at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Hall 24, Stand D07. We look forward to seeing you there!
JaetRobi
The JaetRobi research project is investigating a herbicide-free and automated solution for weed control. The project aims to find solutions to critical issues with the technology used to date. The objectives are to make weed detection more universal and widely applicable through the use of new transfer learning systems and to build an open-source image database for training new scenarios. Furthermore, the stability and area performance of weed removal tools are to be improved by optimising their design and control. Sensor and actuator components are connected to form a functional working unit by mounting them on a common carrier vehicle via a central control system. As part of the project, the technology is being tested under a wide variety of site conditions and in a range of applications in vegetable cultivation. During such tests, image material is being collected for the open-source image database.
Paludiculture - Utilisation
Intact moors are enormous carbon reservoirs. Their drainage, whether for agricultural land or peat extraction, aerates and microbially degrades the peat that has formed over thousands of years, releasing enormous amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and making them a major source of emissions in agriculture. These emissions are to be counteracted by rewetting. Paludiculture refers to the agricultural use of such wet or rewetted moorland soils. The WetNetBB project acts as a catalyst for a large-scale transformation towards sustainable moorland use. The overall objective of the project is to create a network of model and demonstration projects for the use of wet lowland moors with representative moorland areas, biomass utilisation pathways and relevant stakeholders in Brandenburg. Ultimately, the aim is to highlight the unique synergy potential of peatlands for climate, soil, water and biodiversity protection as well as for regional value creation, thereby generating acceptance and interest in sustainable peatland use in the selected regions and beyond.
I4S - Project
In the BonaRes joint project ‘I4S – Intelligence for Soil’, the ATB is working with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and eight other project partners to develop an integrated system for location-specific soil fertility management, which provides recommendations for adjusting fertilisation and other measures to maintain or improve soil fertility and reduce environmental pollution. As part of I4S, scientists are developing and testing novel soil sensors and investigating how they can be integrated into mobile multi-sensor platforms for high-resolution mapping of the topsoil and subsoil. In addition, soil process models for modelling nutrient and water dynamics in the soil and in plants are being further developed. Together, these form the basis for the development of a decision support system (DSS) that can be used to create soil parameter maps and high-resolution fertiliser application maps. The I4S system is primarily aimed at agricultural service providers, farmers and agricultural machinery manufacturers, but also at users from administration, research and related economic sectors such as environmental protection.
Data science at ATB and in agriculture
Data science has become an integral part of modern agricultural research. It is therefore no surprise that many of the research projects at ATB have integrated data science in some form. At the shared ATB stand at AGRITECHNICA, you can gain insights into two such projects. For example, learn how AI and drone imagery can be used to detect Colorado potato beetles on plants, and stay tuned to see what else awaits you on site.