How will regulation influence commercial viability of autonomous equipment in US production agriculture?

Abstract

Autonomous equipment for crop production is on the brink of commercialization in the United States but federal, state, and local policies could affect commercial viability and hinder adoption. This article examines the farm‐level implications of both a speed restriction and on‐site supervisory regulations. The rules reduce the profitability of autonomous machinery, and for some scenarios autonomous machines are no longer an economically viable alternative to conventional machinery. Regulations also increase the optimal number autonomous machines required and influence production practices. Smaller farms have more flexibility in supporting the rules because they have more to gain from the use of autonomous equipment.

Lessons to be learned in adoption of autonomous equipment for field crops

“…Even more cost prohibitive is the restriction that the equipment must not travel more than 2 mph. This speed restriction would make autonomous machinery uncompetitive with conventional farm machinery in most mechanized agriculture (Shockley et al, Forthcoming). Farm equipment manufacturers have tried unsuccessfully to change this California rule, but they have obtained “conditional approval” for autonomous agricultural equipment operating without human workers in the vicinity, mainly for pesticide application (Pankonin, 2019).…”

A Review of High-Throughput Field Phenotyping Systems: Focusing on Ground Robots

“…More robust and efficient perception and control methods are needed. Six, regulation and robot safety should be taken into consideration when designing and operating the robot, which can potentially increase the operation cost of the robot and limit its usages in some countries/areas [119,120].…”

Economics of adoption for digital automated technologies in agriculture

“…They emphasize the need for greater AI capacity if the autonomous machine is to resolve more issues without human intervention. Shockley et al (2021) extended the earlier Kentucky analysis to consider the economic impact of autonomous machine speed restrictions and found that, for maize and soybean farms, these can make the machines unprofitable.…”

“…Under some ISO standards, autonomous machine categories are limited to less than 0.8 kilometres per hour. Shockley et al (2021) show that applying such speed limits generally in crop farming would undercut the economic benefit of autonomous machinery.…”