Adama expands its collaboration with SwarmFarm globally to bring innovative robotics to crop protection worldwide

Adama Agricultural Solutions will be expanding its collaboration with SwarmFarm Robotics globally, aiming to bring innovative robotics solutions to farmers worldwide. Following Adama's and SwarmFarm's successful collaboration in Australia, launched in 2015, it was decided to take the collaboration to additional global markets while capitalizing on Adama's comprehensive commercial platform in over 100 countries worldwide.

As part of the collaboration, Adama and SwarmFarm will work together to develop new, simplified solutions around resistant weeds, labor, application timing and efficacy, using Adama's unique crop protection products applied by the SwarmFarm platform.

SwarmFarm has developed the world’s first “swarming” robotic machines, which work in groups to undertake key tasks of cropping systems, such as planting, weed and pest control, fertiliser application, irrigation and harvesting more accurately and efficiently than large farm machinery. The precision of these lightweight, small robotic machines encourages environmental sustainability and allows farmers to reduce their costs – both of labor and of crop inputs.

The "swarms" of robots developed by SwarmFarm are autonomous and communicate with each other in a way that prevents collisions, allowing the robots to work simultaneously throughout the field. This technology also enables the robots to detect each other and know which part of the field has already been assessed and sprayed. The robots' small size was designed to prevent soil compaction and to adjust to any scale of farming.

Dani Harari, SVP Strategy and Resources at Adama, said "We are excited to collaborate with SwarmFarm to introduce new, innovative solutions to agriculture. Our partnership with SwarmFarm allows us to enhance our offering in order to provide growers with a comprehensive portfolio of unique products and services, which simplify farmers' lives and help them grow".

Andrew Bate, co-founder and Managing Director of SwarmFarm, commented: "We are delighted to partner with Adama to take this ground breaking technology to farmers across the globe. As a start-up ag-tech company we face a significant sales, marketing and distribution challenge – by working with Adama and utilising their established channels we can take our products to market far more easily.

“Together, Adama and SwarmFarm Robotics will make a big difference in improving the performance of current farming systems and thereby the financial viability of farmers internationally.”