- Homburg has become the sole owner of the Swedish company Ekobot. From January 2024, Homburg already was the official importer of Ekobot in the Netherlands and Belgium
Ekobot’s long-term vision is to provide the agricultural sector with a sustainable alternative to reduce or eliminate chemical spraying in crops for human consumption. Homburg wants to continue to grow as a key player in the field of advanced precision agriculture, and thus make an important contribution to sustainable and future-proof agriculture. With the takeover of the Swedish Ekobot, a major step has been realized.
“We are proud to add the Ekobot products to Homburg’s global SmartFarming offering,” said Jack Thibaudier, CEO of Homburg. “Now we can further develop Ekobot according to our own vision on agriculture. Further development was difficult for Ekobot as a listed startup; the company was clearly ready for the scale-up phase.”
Ekobot developed the autonomous agricultural robot Ekobot WEAI according to a unique concept. The robot, comparable to the robotic lawnmower at home, keeps a plot (for example, with onions) free of weeds. This is done based on an in-house developed vision system with AI-driven recognition techniques and a patented mechanical weeding tool. The system also has a constant connection to ‘the Cloud’ that enables further analyses of the crop. This example of sustainable precision agriculture makes it possible to control weeds without or with minimal use of herbicides.
Homburg is working progressively to further develop a strong position in the field of sustainable precision agriculture. This is done in collaboration with PMH Investments, which acquired an equity interest in Homburg Holland last year.
Agriculture faces an enormous challenge to continue to supply the world with healthy food.
This requires future-proof agriculture that pays attention to soil, water, climate, landscape, and biodiversity. The sector focuses its attention on efficient new technologies, such as implement steering (Homburg SmartSolutions), mechanical weeding, robots, and location-specific crop care.
The Homburg SmartFarming division uses various technologies for this precision agriculture, such as GPS, camera and sensor technology, AI, IOT (Internet of Things), robotization, and Spot Spraying.
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