By Clint Thompson
The potential future of specialty crop production was on display this week at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia.
UGA hosted the Southeastern Specialty Crop Technology Conference & Show on Tuesday and Wednesday. It attracted ag companies featuring technologies on the market and those still in the production phase.
Luan Oliveira, University of Georgia Assistant Professor and Precision Ag Extension Specialist, organized the event and discussed its importance with industry experts from across the Southeast in attendance.
“What we’re trying to do with this Southeastern Specialty Crop Technology Conference & Show is place growers, research people, industry and students together in the same place to increase awareness and knowledge about the technologies on the market,” Oliveira said. “When I say increase awareness and knowledge, is a lot of the ag technologies, when they come to the United States or when they’re built here, they’re built on the west coast. They’re built in California. They’re built in Washington.
“It takes a little bit of time for them to actually arrive in the Southeast United States.”
Field Demonstrations
The highlight of the two-day conference were the field demonstrations of technologies already in action. These included a solar-powered spot spraying robot, artificial intelligence mechanical weeders and autonomous multipurpose robots.
“We’re hosting this so we can bring those products and bring those companies in; we bring the research that they’re doing there as well. We showcase everything,” Oliveira said. “By showing it, it’s not like we’re going to generate adoption right away, but we’re going to generate questions; questions from the growers; ‘I don’t plant the same way you plant in California. How can your product be adaptable to my operation?’”