Laborious digging of asparagus may well be a thing of the past shortly: researchers of the University Bremen are presently developing together with partners from the agricultural sector an automatic asparagus digger. The idea is to have 'AutoSpar' harvest 6 asparagus stems per minute.
In 2010 researchers presented the proto-type, which they developed during a two-year EU-project. In total 1.3 million Euro was invested in the project. At the moment AutoSpar is in the halls of cooperation partner Strauss awaiting the following project phase. Up to the time of being ready to be used it will still be developed further.
Asparagus growers have now already shown a lot of interest in the machine. The machine cuts with the aid of intelligent photo and sensor data, electronic driving systems and mechanical positioning eliminates the stems, after digging them from the soil and puts them in trays. The idea is that AutoSpar, after a development phase of nine months will be in the field during the next asparagus harvest in May 2013 as an almost market-ready product.