MSU-Led Team Awarded $1M USDA NIFA Grant To Explore Precision Laser Weeding In Organic Vegetable Production

The funding is provided through USDA NIFA's Organic Transitions Program.

Weeds are one of the largest barriers to profitable plant agriculture, costing U.S. growers billions each year. For organic growers — or those transitioning to organic systems — the challenges can be even more daunting. Labor and management costs can soar due to avoidance of synthetic herbicides, instead relying on cultivation, mulches, organic herbicides and hand weeding.

A new $1M grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) is supporting Michigan State University researchers in evaluating precision laser weeding as a method to assist vegetable growers transitioning to organic production. The grant is funded through USDA NIFA’s Organic Transitions Program, and MSU scientists will partner with a team from Oregon State University.

The Organic Transitions Program prioritizes research that improves soil health, soil fertility and conservation while bolstering the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers.

The four-year project is led by Joshua Miranda, an assistant professor and MSU Extension specialist in the Department of Horticulture. Miranda, whose work is also supported by MSU AgBioResearch, is an expert in specialty crop integrated weed management, concentrating on herbicide performance, crop safety, precision weed control technologies, innovative non-chemical control methods, agricultural robotics and the evolution of herbicide resistance.

New funding will allow the team to explore how precision laser weeding — when combined with other organic weed management strategies — can be a mechanism for those transitioning to organic production to reduce risk and increase profitability.

“Organic growers rely heavily on cultivation and hand weeding, but repeated cultivation can disturb soil structure, reduce surface residue and stimulate additional weed emergence, while hand weeding is costly, labor intensive and increasingly difficult to sustain,” Miranda said. “The overall goal is to better understand how laser weeding can help overcome weed management and labor challenges during the transition to organic production, reduce dependence on hand weeding, improve profitability, and make organic vegetable production more competitive, practical and scalable.”

Precision laser weeding employs machine vision to identify and target individual weeds. Currently, the technology is expensive and lacks the speed required for efficient use on most farms. Miranda said growers also lack information on crop stages, weed sizes and optimal timing that would yield the greatest benefit.

Researchers will partner with growers in Michigan and Oregon throughout the project, as well as agricultural commodity organizations such as the Michigan Vegetable Council (MVC) and Michigan Onion Committee (MOC).

“Vegetables, especially onions, have serious weed issues in Michigan,” said Greg Bird, executive director of MVC and MOC. “There are not enough labels for conventional sprays, and organic sprays just can't manage the weeds. We recognize there are some advanced agricultural technologies out there for weeding vegetables, but are these tools ready for our vegetable farms? With Dr. Miranda’s grant, we hope to answer that question to get the technology ramped up and ready to zap down some Michigan weeds.”

The project has four primary objectives, and the first will focus on testing crop safety, weed control, accuracy and operational thresholds for precision laser weeding in carrot, lettuce, onion and spinach.

The team will then develop targeted organic integrated weed management frameworks that deploy precision laser weeding for selective in-row and between row control. Information from the first two objectives will inform the third step, which is to evaluate the cost benefits of the technology compared to standard organic weed management to pinpoint the production conditions in which adoption is economically practical.

Finally, the group will create resources such as fact sheets, decision-support tools and videos, as well as stakeholder engagement through conducting on-farm demonstrations and field days to showcase research outcomes.

“Collaborating closely with growers in Michigan and Oregon is an essential component to this work,” Miranda said. “Ultimately, we hope this can help growers successfully transition more acres to organic production and improve the viability and profitability of organic vegetable production in these regions.”

About Michigan State University
Michigan State University AgBioResearch scientists discover dynamic solutions for food systems and the environment. More than 300 MSU faculty conduct leading-edge research on a variety of topics, from health and agriculture to natural resources. Originally formed in 1888 as the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU AgBioResearch oversees numerous on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 outlying centers throughout Michigan. For more information, visit agbioresearch.msu.edu.