Lawn Solutions Australia’s network of accredited turf growers are leading the way when it comes to adopting new technologies that are beneficial to their businesses and consumers.
From crop management, mowing practices, to harvesting and delivery, the way growers ensure you receive the highest quality turf available is continually evolving.
Here are just a few new technologies that are becoming utilised in the turf industry:
Drone technology
Drones, flying robots or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasing in use across many businesses and the turf industry is also reaping the benefits of this technology. Turf growers can use drones to map out their paddocks, track their crop establishment and can even utilise Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Sensors which can provide data straight to your phone to identify problem spots for rectification with specific treatments. Some drones can even administer the treatment!
Automated Mowing
By now most of us have seen robot vacuums and even robot lawn mowers, but did you know this technology is being introduced on a much larger scale for turf producers?
Whilst the level of automation is currently limited to manned vehicles, turf growers will very soon have the ability to create maps of their paddocks and assign an unmanned robot mower to the paddock with a simple click of a mouse.
The purpose-built software will instinctively create the most efficient route for optimal area coverage of every paddock. The software will communicate with and control each machine, managing its speed, direction, turning radius, obstacle detection, braking and blade height.
Turf Harvesting and Robotics
Methods for harvesting turf have continually evolved over the years and it is nowhere near the backbreaking work it once was. Automatic harvesters have become the norm in the turf industry and have massively increased efficiencies for growers.
These machines are laser guided and utilise robotics to cut, roll and then stack turf on a pallet. These pallets are then dropped off the back when full and another pallet is placed into position.
