Agriculture 4.0: Bosch BASF Smart Farming and AMAZONE recently presented a preview of the Smart Spraying Solution in France

At the heart of the challenges affecting food sovereignty and agroecological transition, Amazone and Bosch BASF Smart Farming – a joint venture of BASF Digital Farming and Bosch – introduced the smart spraying technology to the French market on June 21, 22 and 23. This groundbreaking innovation combines agronomic intelligence, digital technology, and machinery to apply targeted doses of herbicides only where weeds are present in the crop. Precision application together with digital tools enables reductions in herbicide use on growing crops by up to 70%, depending on the prevailing field conditions and weed pressure of individual fields. This innovative process heralds a new era in agriculture: Agriculture 4.0!

The Smart Spraying Solution is a unique offer that targets current and future agricultural challenges, contributing to improved productivity, sustainability, and profitability, while preserving biodiversity.

Producing higher quantity and quality of food in a more sustainable manner, which maximizes the use of arable land while reducing the impact on natural resources and the environment: this is the challenge of food sovereignty globally. While the need and responsibility to feed the world's growing population makes it imperative to increase agricultural productivity, respect for the environment remains essential. The path to a more sustainable agriculture requires the market introduction of diverse, well-considered and innovative technologies.

Smart spraying technology is a key part of the solution, helping to reduce the environmental footprint while improving the profitability and performance of farms. Indeed, it is fully in line with the fourth agricultural revolution currently underway. Based on agronomy, digital technology, robotics and genetics, this revolution aims to provide food producers with smart farming solutions that make agriculture more sustainable, resilient, and competitive. It is based on a set of innovative technologies and practices, grouped under the term precision agriculture, aimed at reducing inputs and the impacts associated with them.

The move to smart spraying technology is also consistent with the ambitious agroecological approach adopted by France: its Ecophyto Plan II aims to reduce the use of phytosanitary products by 50% by 2025. In addition, as part of the plan, €25 million has been assigned to promote the robotization of agricultural equipment, as well as the digitalization of farms and the deployment of a 4.0 agriculture. Smart spraying technology also supports the European Union’s Farm to Fork strategy 2030 and aids the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption and production, and Climate Action.

A strategic collaboration for a high-tech package

The Smart Spraying Solution was developed by Bosch BASF Smart Farming , a joint venture created in 2021 that combines the hardware and system connectivity competence of Bosch with the superior digital tools and agronomic intelligence of BASF Digital Farming. The new company developed a strategic collaboration with agricultural machinery manufacturer Amazone to further field test its smart spraying system in real growing conditions. The net result of the collaboration cleverly combines three complementary farming innovations.

The first innovation are the hardware components from Bosch. That includes cameras, light units, processors, software, and connectivity elements. 

The second is associated with BASF Digital Farming’s xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER product, an advanced crop optimization platform. A specially configured xarvio FIELD MANAGER module provides the agronomic logic and intelligence for the Smart Spraying Solution that enables farmers to optimize the use of the latest generation sprayer by providing highly precise application recommendations (treatment program, product mix and pest threshold) for weeds that are analyzed and refined yearly. The last innovation is based on the new spraying technologies developed by Amazone, which combine extreme precision in targeting weeds and rapid triggering of the spray nozzle.

The originality of the Smart Spraying Solution lies in this cross between cutting-edge machinery and digital technologies. Disruptive, it also optimizes the results of ultra-localized spraying and is therefore different from all its competitors: the integration of precision equipment, digital tools and agronomic intelligence enables herbicide reductions of up to 70%, against much lower averages from precision-only solutions.

Innovation in the DNA of the partners

For BASF France Agro Division , the agroecological path is a necessary condition for a successful transition to sustainable agriculture: remunerative, productive, and integrated in diversified and resilient agroecosystems. Therefore, the company has equipped itself in 2019 with an agroecological roadmap to 2030 to project itself over the long term.

"Our DNA is science, and the basis of our approach is innovation. At BASF France Agro Division, we have a holistic vision of agriculture and understand its challenges, which gives us the capacity and the duty to be a key player in this transition towards sustainable agriculture. Smart spraying is part of this ambitious, committed approach to meet the challenges of tomorrow's agriculture", explains Jean-Jacques Pons, Director of BASF France Agro Division.

For its part, Amazone's strong value is to offer innovative solutions to the agricultural sector that meet the agronomic and societal challenges. A company culture that has made it a forerunner in precision spraying.

"The smart spraying technology is the culmination of Agriculture 4.0. Thanks to the partnership with Bosch BASF Smart Farming, we have been able to take ultra-localized spraying even further. The integration of the xarvio® decision support tool makes it a complete solution, different from all its competitors. This innovation has brought together the various agricultural supply industries, which still tend to operate in silos: it is by working together that we will be able to offer solutions for the agriculture of tomorrow", says Florent Guilleman, Managing Director of Amazone France.