Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

EU forestry does not currently have automatic planters, hence the project proposes to develop an innovative technology in which the key role will be played by an autonomous planter designed for establishing forest cultures and afforestation of former farmland and reclaimed areas with the use of seedlings with a covered root system (grown in container nurseries). The device will have a self-levelling traction system, a control system with a satellite navigation module to support autonomous navigation and planting site selection, a mechanism of planting spot preparation, a planting unit, an intelligent robotic arm to feed seedlings from containers to the planting unit according to a given algorithm, a container storage unit with an automated feeder, a drive unit with an electro-hydraulic control system, a control module, and a wireless remote control system. The autonomous planter will significantly reduce the cost and machine inputs during establishing forest cultures and afforestation of former farmland and reclaimed areas with the use of seedlings with a covered root system, and thus perfectly fits into the assumptions of agriculture 4.0.