UTIA researchers win grant for automation technology for nursery industry

(Press-News.org) University of Tennessee Extension and UT AgResearch scientists have been awarded part of a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study ways to use automation and robotics to address the labor shortage in the nursery crops industry.

Growing plants in a nursery is highly dependent on manual labor, making this industry particularly prone to worker shortages. An increasingly scarce workforce is limiting production, economic development and prosperity in the rural communicates where nurseries are predominantly located. The UT Institute of Agriculture scientists who are part of the Labor, Efficiency, Automation and Production (LEAP) Team have been working alongside nursery partners in Tennessee and researchers from eight other universities and institutions to address the growing nursery workforce deficit. LEAP has been awarded a five-year $9.8 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative, and $3.6 million of that is designated for UTIA research and extension.

LEAP focuses on automation of repetitive, arduous tasks to reduce the reliance on many workers and improve worker engagement and wellbeing. The initiative aims to develop new technologies as well as interactive economic decision-making tools, online classes, an industry mentoring program and other resources to accelerate the adoption of these advancements in the nursery crops industry.

“The industry is facing challenges that will require producers to be more efficient with the limited labor that is available,” shared John Turner, co-owner of Turner & Sons Nursery in Smithville, Tennessee. UT’s Amy Fulcher explained, “Lack of labor has reached a crisis point that jeopardizes the U.S. nursery industry’s future. We know from our national survey that nursery producers are adopting automation to address the labor shortage, yet existing technologies are adopted on average by just one in three nurseries. Individual tasks are 31% or less automated, an increase from 18% in 2006, but we have to increase that. Luckily, we have innovative nursery partners in Tennessee who share that vision.” Terry Hines, owner of Hale and Hines Nursery in McMinnville, Tennessee, explained, “Over the last few years, we have increased our salaries and added benefits, and yet it is still difficult to recruit and retain qualified workers. We have found that innovating and investing in automation is essential to a sustainable future.”

Fulcher, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and co-Project Director of LEAP, worked with a USDA-ARS scientist and fellow member of the LEAP engineering team on the development of intelligent spray technology that uses sensors to tailor pesticide application from each nozzle to a plant’s physical characteristics in real-time. The successful development and commercialization of this spray technology was a cornerstone of the LEAP project.

UTIA researchers who are part of LEAP with Fulcher include:

Natalie Bumgarner, associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences Le Chen, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics Hao Gan, assistant professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Alicia Rihn, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics Taylor Ruth, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications Susan Schexnayder, senior research associate in the School of Natural Resources Margarita Velandia, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics The LEAP Team is developing automation technology to help nursery growers with tasks such as lifting potted plants, eradicating weeds, inventorying crops in the field and detecting insect pests before they damage plants.

Under the direction of Gan, undergraduate senior design students in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science created an award-winning early prototype of a harvesting robot called PIPER (Pot-in-Pot Extraction Robot). TALI, a Terrestrial Automatic Laser-based Inventory system, will be developed in partnership with the USDA to automatically count trees and record individual tree dimensions and canopy density. TALI builds on the intelligent spray technology developed by the USDA-ARS, Fulcher and others at UTIA, and Tennessee nursery and orchard collaborators that is currently sold worldwide as Smart Apply.

Another technology – ANDREW (Autonomous Nursery Driving Robot for Eliminating Weeds) – is being developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Advanced prototypes of PIPER, TALI, and ANDREW will be tested at UT’s East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center (ETREC) Plant Sciences Unit and collaborating Tennessee nurseries.

The LEAP Team is also helping small-scale growers adopt existing, low-cost technology to apply fertilizers, herbicides and irrigation more labor efficiently. LEAP Team economists Chen, Rihn and Velandia will assess the economic viability of automated technologies and evaluate the impact of technology on employee productivity, retention, health and satisfaction. Rihn, Ruth, and Schexnayder will work with a UF LEAP Team member to map growers’ information-sharing networks that accelerate adoption; and Bumgarner, Rihn, and Ruth will assess consumer perception of the benefits of technology use in nurseries and assess consumers’ willingness to pay for these benefits. Ruth will also develop messaging that promotes the adoption of nursery technology and inform strategic communication.

LEAP, led by Anthony LeBude, an Extension Specialist at N.C. State University, includes UTIA, Tennessee State University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Georgia, the University of Florida, Oregon State University, Texas A&M University, and the USDA-ARS. Many nursery crops growers in Tennessee and across the U.S. are collaborating partners, hosting research and extension efforts related to the grant.

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.

END