Organic Tillage and Vegetables

Better weeding through shared machinery

Weed control remains one of the main challenges in organic tillage and vegetable production. Successful mechanical weed control depends on good crop establishment, the growth stage of the crop and weeds, soil and weather conditions, machine setup and, critically, carrying out the operation at the right time. New mechanical, precision and autonomous technologies offer growers more options, but many require significant investment and may only be needed for relatively short periods during the growing season.

Organic Tillage and Vegetables is a farmer-led European Innovation Partnership (EIP) evaluating non-chemical weed control technologies on organic farms. Participating farmers are working with Teagasc and machinery and technology providers to assess how these systems perform and how specialist machinery can be shared between farms.

Mechanical weeding (Pre Emergence) with the LEMKEN Thulit on a participating farm

The project is working across a range of organic tillage and vegetable crops and is evaluating precision and mechanical weeders, camera-guided inter-row cultivation, autonomous robotic systems, laser and flame weeding and alternative crop establishment methods.

Field work records crop establishment, weed populations, machine settings, timing, work rates and crop performance. Farmer experience is recorded alongside these measurements to identify operational problems, limitations and changes that can improve how the machinery is used. Machinery and methods can therefore be reviewed and adjusted over successive seasons as experience is gained.

Actions

From field performance to machinery-sharing model

Machinery sharing is being assessed alongside machine performance. The project is examining how specialist equipment can be scheduled and moved between farms within often narrow crop, weed and weather windows, as well as the implications of work rate, transport, labour, ownership and contractor options. This will inform the development of a machinery-sharing model based on the experience of the participating farms.

FarmDroid autonomous seeding and weeding system

Earth Rover CLAWS laser weeding technology

Outcomes

The project will pinpoint where each weed‑control technology performs well, where it falls short, and the conditions that shape its effectiveness. It will give growers clear, practical information on the performance, limitations and costs of the systems tested, while also showing how shared access to specialist machinery could operate under Irish farming situations. The results will provide a solid foundation for decisions on weed management, machinery investment and farmer collaboration across both organic and non‑organic farms.

OTV is also collaborating with the EU OH-FINE project on a series of field trials and management approaches.

Find out more about the project here