Cowra has played host to the cutting edge of agricultural innovation with trials being held on local properties by Australian AgTech startup Growave.
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The trials are for a new technology that exposes weeds and fungi in the soil to microwaves, killing them before they can be established and removing the need for herbicides on farms.
The trials in the Cowra region followed on from earlier ones in Victoria where the technology destroyed 95 per cent of fungal disease at strawberry farms.
Growave's Head of Product and robotic engineer Liam Hescock has been trailing the product on Mulyan Farm's mixed-crop vegetable plantings and said farmers were keen to see the results.
"Farmers are highly engaged as the tech is solving problems where no viable solution exists," he said.
"Our patented microwave technology allows for efficiently targeting heat that destroys select weeds, buried seeds, and pathogens.
"It penetrates the target and destroys the cell structure from the inside permanently."
Weed management costs the Australian agricultural industry an estimated $2.5 billion every year and growers up to $30,0000 per hectare in lost productivity.
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With weeds increasingly becoming resistant to glyphosate, the Growave technology heats the water in the weeds cells with the vibrations destroying the cell walls and killing the weed.
Currently, the device is towed behind a tractor, going row by row but it could be developed to be mounted on an autonomous platform.
The company's interim CEO Jason Chaffey said the technology was a cleaner way of dealing with a significant agricultural problem.
"A major issue we now have is chemical resistant weeds," he said.
"In Australia alone, there are at least 25 different species of weeds resistant to traditional herbicides.
"Weeds are getting smarter, while the ability to target them with chemicals is getting narrower with tighter restrictions already introduced in the US and Europe banning particular herbicides with Australia likely to follow suit.
"Growave is a cleaner way to kill weeds and disease, avoiding the use of chemicals, we are using electricity," he said.
The successful trials have captured the interest of strawberry growers in California, with the company preparing for more commercial trials in 2022.
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