Crop robots can defy economies of size and make small-scale agriculture economic â or can they?

O. Spykman; M. Gandorfer; J. Lowenberg-DeBoer

Jump to Content

Crop robots can defy economies of size and make small-scale agriculture economic â or can they?

In: Precision agriculture '25

Authors:

O. Spykman

O. Spykman
olivia.spykman@lfl.bayern.de

Search for other papers by O. Spykman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

M. Gandorfer

M. Gandorfer

Search for other papers by M. Gandorfer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

, and

J. Lowenberg-DeBoer

J. Lowenberg-DeBoer

Search for other papers by J. Lowenberg-DeBoer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 1054â1060

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004725232_138

Access via:

Dar Hadith al Hassania

Download PDF

By comparing experience from two autonomously operated strip cropping field trials, obstacles to a labour-efficient use of crop robots in small-scale biodiverse farming systems are described. Despite different approaches, the conclusions from the two trials agree that logistics and the natural environment are main causes of time-inefficiencies. The current state of technology thus does not yet result in autonomous equipment reliably saving labour time relative to conventional equipment in small-scale, diversified systems. Consequently, larger fields are more economical for robot operations so that crop robots, like tractors, are subject to economies of field size.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/edcollchap-oa/book/9789004725232/BP000138.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Precision agriculture '25

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004725232

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 18 Jun 2025

Subjects
- Life Sciences
  - General
  - Agriculture & Environment

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	0	0	0
Full Text Views	121	107	10
PDF Views & Downloads	176	138	13

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Crop robots can defy economies of size and make small-scale agriculture economic â or can they?

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Precision agriculture '25

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics

Crop robots can defy economies of size and make small-scale agriculture economic â or can they?