Johan Tremmel is an organic farmer from Augsburg in the German state of Bavaria. At Biohof Tremmel they cultivate 100 ha organic crops. In the summer they grow special crops like parsley, sugar beets and dill. Since these crops are highly dependent on manual weeding, they decided to buy a FarmDroid.
It is getting harder and harder to find manual labor to remove weed. During the COVID-pandemic it was almost impossible for Johan to find workers because of travel restrictions. Therefore, it was crucial for them to invest in a FarmDroid.
When they grow parsley, they normally need 300 hours of manual weeding per ha. In comparison, they spent only 30 hours of manual work per ha the first year with FarmDroid. The same goes for the sugar beets. In sugar beets they usually spent 200-250 hours of manual weeding per ha. With the FarmDroid they can do with maximum 30 hours of manual work per ha.
Before they got the robot, they had 20 people hired, working daily to remove weed. They all needed to be housed and catered. There has been no need for that after they got the robot. It works completely on its own. The robot has saved them a lot of resources.
