Autonomous regenerative agriculture: Swarm robotics to change farm economics

摘要

• Swarm robotics made regenerative strip intercropping profitable. • Profits increased by £56.88 ha −1 yr −1 with autonomous regenerative cropping. • Regenerative potential for inputs cut and increasing yield can raise profit. • Adding intensive livestock regenerative practices challenged farm economics. • Winter grazing and small ruminant pasturing should be considered. Regenerative agriculture (RA) with mixed cropping is suggested to promote soil health. Combining crops with livestock adds another element of the RA paradigm. The simplest mixed cropping system is strip intercropping but use on conventional mechanized farms is limited by higher labour and capital investment. The objective of this study was to assess the comparative competitiveness of RA practices with and without livestock operated using conventional mechanized farm with human drivers and swarm robotics. Modelling livestock component considered intensive cattle feed using harvested forage because grazing in narrow strips is difficult. The profit maximizing optimization model of a 500 hectare (ha) British West Midlands farm found that per annum profitability of regenerative strip intercropping system was £56.88 ha −1 higher for farm operated using smaller swarm robotics than farm operated using smaller conventional mechanization with human drivers. The conventional whole field sole cropping system operated using larger machines with human drivers returned £128.36 ha −1 per annum less than regenerative strip intercropping operated using swarm robotics. Adding livestock component with crop only regenerative strip intercropping system resulted negative return per annum (- £26.72 ha −1 ). The added labour for livestock rearing, forage and manure transport, and higher machine costs challenged competitiveness of regenerative system with livestock. This reinforcing the need to more completely automate public road transport and intensive livestock rearing. Results indicate that swarm robotics have potential to change the cost calculus of RA practices, while livestock integration needs careful cost-effective designs to reinforce farm profitability.