Last year, in a world-first, Saga Robotics removed the requirement for fungicides to control strawberry powdery mildew. This season’s results consolidate the company’s status as a stable and serious provider of automated integrated pest management (IPM).
Saga Robotics has announced that its autonomous robotic platform, Thorvald, has had its biggest season to date, operating and treating strawberry plants at Clock House Farm with UV-C light to control powdery mildew. The ag-tech company achieved complete control of the pathogen treating all the farm’s 30ha of tabletop crops.
Oli Pascall, Managing Director, Clock House Farm says, “Clock House Farm is a leader in the field of farming innovations and Thorvald is a big part of that. We have actively been using Thorvald for the third year running and have experienced at first-hand the significant effect and results of the Thorvald UV-C light, without any chemical intervention to protect our strawberry plants from powdery mildew during the season. The UV-C treatment has delivered a successful outcome, not only in relation to the effective control of powdery mildew but also in helping the farm in its commitment to sustainability, which remains a key priority for us. I am also excited to see the huge potential for Thorvald to support and automate many other key aspects of IPM going forward.”
Saga Robotics will be partnering with more growers in 2023 while it prepares for the commercial launch of a wider range of services, which will be embedded onto its Thorvald robot platform. These will be included in Saga Robotics’ IPM portfolio next year, which will serve as an important stepping-stone for a substantial commercial scale-up in the UK in 2024.