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I'm all about regenerative agriculture, permaculture, etc. But I've never seen a solution to weeds other than to spend a lot of manual labor removing them. Is t

I'm all about regenerative agriculture, permaculture, etc. But I've never seen a solution to weeds other than to spend a lot of manual labor removing them. Is there a method that reduces the number of weeds that appear, or reduces the need to remove them? I tend to think that solutions like this offer the possibility of the best of both worlds - automated (and therefore scalable) agriculture without the chemical dependency.

janglytim 5y ago
What about using animals to help with weed control[1], for example ducks used in rice paddies[2] or weeder geese? Also mulching and growing cover crops alongside and in succession with our crops [3] prevents weeds without as much labor as traditional wedding. For example planting clover around crops, which stays short and fixes nitrogen while competing with weeds. I wish we would spend more time rethinking our industrial farming practices, rather than try to prop them up with diesel burning robots. [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236942635_Grazing_Animals_as_Weed_Control_Agents https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236942635_Grazing_A... [2] https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/021022sci_r.html https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/021022sci_r.html [3] https://eorganic.org/node/2535 https://eorganic.org/node/2535
- ashtonbaker 5y ago
  The link at [1] seems to be mostly about "pasture and rangeland weed control" with limited applications to forestry and crops. The examples for those are good, but seem at a glance application-specific. The most general recommendation for crops is to use animals during the pasture rotation of a plot to reduce weed pressure during a growing rotation. [2]: Again, great, but very crop-specific. [3]: I've seen/used mulching on permaculture farms, and it seems like a fairly effective method. Also has the benefits of reducing the need for water, and regenerating topsoil via decomposition. But labor-intensive. The clover idea is very interesting and new to me. > I wish we would spend more time rethinking our industrial farming practices, rather than try to prop them up with diesel burning robots. Agree wholeheartedly! And if the answer is that more labor is required to farm sustainably, then I'm personally all for that. But I'm also pragmatic, and if we could improve the economics of sustainable farming by automating some of the manual labor, I think that would be great. I'm not sure this specific robot addresses that - it seems designed for industrial monoculture farms - but it's an interesting idea to me.
frankzander 5y ago
You never see one but there is one: cover weeds. Weeds are only grow where the soil is uncovered. In small scale you also can mulch with compost but in large scale you need other ways. One benefit of a covered soil is more moisture in the soil even in dry climates.

janglytim 5y ago

What about using animals to help with weed control[1], for example ducks used in rice paddies[2] or weeder geese? Also mulching and growing cover crops alongside and in succession with our crops [3] prevents weeds without as much labor as traditional wedding. For example planting clover around crops, which stays short and fixes nitrogen while competing with weeds. I wish we would spend more time rethinking our industrial farming practices, rather than try to prop them up with diesel burning robots. [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236942635_Grazing_Animals_as_Weed_Control_Agents https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236942635_Grazing_A... [2] https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/021022sci_r.html https://web-japan.org/trends01/article/021022sci_r.html [3] https://eorganic.org/node/2535 https://eorganic.org/node/2535

ashtonbaker 5y ago
The link at [1] seems to be mostly about "pasture and rangeland weed control" with limited applications to forestry and crops. The examples for those are good, but seem at a glance application-specific. The most general recommendation for crops is to use animals during the pasture rotation of a plot to reduce weed pressure during a growing rotation. [2]: Again, great, but very crop-specific. [3]: I've seen/used mulching on permaculture farms, and it seems like a fairly effective method. Also has the benefits of reducing the need for water, and regenerating topsoil via decomposition. But labor-intensive. The clover idea is very interesting and new to me. > I wish we would spend more time rethinking our industrial farming practices, rather than try to prop them up with diesel burning robots. Agree wholeheartedly! And if the answer is that more labor is required to farm sustainably, then I'm personally all for that. But I'm also pragmatic, and if we could improve the economics of sustainable farming by automating some of the manual labor, I think that would be great. I'm not sure this specific robot addresses that - it seems designed for industrial monoculture farms - but it's an interesting idea to me.

frankzander 5y ago

You never see one but there is one: cover weeds. Weeds are only grow where the soil is uncovered. In small scale you also can mulch with compost but in large scale you need other ways. One benefit of a covered soil is more moisture in the soil even in dry climates.