Steven Rees demonstrates the weed spot
sprayer prototype, which will be able to  tell
the difference between sugarcane and
weeds, and only spray the latter.

Innovative new technology that has the potential to revolutionise weed management in sugarcane farming is under development at USQ.

National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) Mechatronic project manager Steven Rees and research engineer Dr Cheryl McCarthy have collectively spent the past 18 months developing a weed spot sprayer prototype.

Mr Rees said a precision spray technology targeting specific weeds could improve weed management by maximising production and reducing herbicide use, while reinforcing minimum tillage concepts.

'Competition from weeds in sugarcane can cause significant loss in yield and potentially reduce the length of a sugar cane crop,' Mr Rees said.

'As the sugar industry moved towards minimum tillage farming systems to reduce the cost of farming, it is becoming increasingly dependent on herbicides.

'A prototype developed with SRDC support that can successfully discriminate between mature green grassy weeds and sugarcane will reduce the cost of weed control and can be combined with GPS technology to map weed infestation across a field.'

Mr Rees said further research opportunities were being explored.

'Potential further work includes extending the system to detect other weed and crop growth stages and other weed species,' he said.

The NCEA has also developed projects for machine vision applications including macadamia yield monitoring, fodder quality assessment and cattle body condition scoring.