Bloomberg: "Farm Robots Help Plug Worker Shortage in Malaysian Palm Oil
It's great to see EarthSense, Inc.'s robots featured in this Bloomberg story about the labor shortages affecting the production of the world's largest food oil, and how our autonomous robots are set to change that!
EarthSense's patent protected AI-powered autonomy and plant intelligence capabilities are key to unlocking sustainable, high-productivity palm plantations around the world.
Robots Are Stepping Into One of Asia’s Dirtiest Farm Jobs
Labor issues in No. 2 grower affecting global output
Technicalities mean full automation remains years away
By Anuradha Raghu and Kok Leong Chan
June 29, 2024….
With global stockpiles set for the first back-to-back decline in more than 40 years, Malaysia has every reason to push for automation to boost production. Increased awareness of the industry’s problematic reliance on migrant workers — clouded by restrictions and labor abuses — has also encouraged companies to find alternative solutions, said Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha, group managing director of SD Guthrie Bhd., a government-linked company previously known as Sime Darby Plantation.
“To depend on foreign workers for all these key tasks is actually putting this industry at a very high risk,” Helmy said. “This is why we have to take this plunge. We really have to place these bets.”
A worker supervises EarthSense’s TerraMax fertilizer spreader at the SD Guthrie palm oil plantations. Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomberg
.. speaking amid whirring and beeping prototypes at the company’s robotics lab in Selangor, the firm’s Chief Digital Officer Aditya Tuli said change was here to stay.
“Once we start mechanizing, we do imagine that there will be an increase or a positive impact to production numbers,” he said. “We are chasing that.”
Read the full article, published June 29, 2024, on Bloomberg.com.