Our Vision

Farmers who work parcels under twenty acres are challenged by availability of labor, the cost of labor, and equipment costs for purchasing and maintaining equipment usually designed for mega farms. It is difficult for a farmer to turn a profit on a single parcel, and even the farmers who work multiple small parcels face a tough challenge. Unless we can change the economics of working small parcels, these small parcels will be used for something other than farming. We hope we can change this pattern by making it economically viable to work small farms again.

Scale - Small acreage parcels do not lend themselves to practices designed for massive farms. It is impractical to apply the same techniques of planting, cultivating, and harvesting as with mega farms. The robotic vehicles being designed by some companies only work for massive, straight-as-an-arrow fields. We want to design for the small parcel in mind.

Equipment - Most equipment manufacturers focus on large farms and big parcels, but getting a giant combine down a narrow country lane is a problem, and it costs a small fortune to buy or lease that equipment. The result is that many farmers do not want to work the small parcels because the equipment is impractical to use on small fields. Relative to the operating time for a small field, the transportation time and the setup and take-down time are too long. It might take two hours to move the equipment in place and return, for a 20 minute harvesting operation. The acquisition and serving costs of the giant equipment designed for large fields are prohibitive for small farmers. Farmers working dozens of small parcels might be able to afford the equipment it takes, but even then, that equipment is overkill for what they are working.

Labor - Aside from the cost of labor, availability of labor is a challenge for any farming operation. Both issues call for a new approach. Robotics can replace or reduce the cost of labor and certainly can replace the availability of labor.

Our primary focus is on technology applied to farming row crops, but these concepts have applications in other types of farming, and even aquaculture. Ag equipment manufacturers target the needs for large scale farms out of necessity because the economics favor large farms. These manufacturers are all tied to technology invented in the 19th century. Can we change that thinking?

We believe there is still a place for small acreage farmers if we can develop economically viable equipment for planting, cultivating, fertilizing, and harvesting row crops on small acreage.

Robotics represents a way to dramatically change the economics, but many of the robotics companies are focusing on the needs of the same large “Big Ag” farms. That doesn’t really change anything for the small acreage farmer.  We want to rethink those 19th century concepts.

If we can find ways to reduce the costs of the equipment and the operating costs, then we have improved the odds for the small acreage farmer. But it requires rethinking the fundamentals. If we can completely rethink how small parcels are planted, cultivated, and harvested, then we can change the game.

That is our goal. Easton Robotics is investing in the design and development of robotics to help the small acreage farmer.  We are looking for ways to deploy existing products for similar goals.

Current Projects