We did it!
25 years of diligently crafting to make the best state of the art precision spraying technology
Rometron's, the company behind the worldwide known brand WEED-IT, is celebrating its 25th birthday. After 25 years, it's the perfect time to look back at our achievements and to see how far we have come!
We are proud to share the journey we have taken and like to share some of our most remarkable accomplishments.
- We installed 50 km of spray boom
- We save 30.000.000 liter of herbices, every year
- We mounted 150 km of electrical wiring!
Please read how we have come this far, from our weed elemination solution on pavements to a wordwide marketleader in precision spraying agriculture.
How we did it
25 years of intelligent agricultural solutions.
Rometron’s roots lay in Wageningen, The Netherlands, where its founder and owner Roel de Jonge graduated on spot spraying technology from Wageningen University and Research (WUR) in 1997. He quickly recognised the potential of the technology and started to commercialise it as WEED-IT from 1999 after founding the company Rometron.
Right from the start, Rometron and WEED-IT have been focusing on obtaining significant savings on the use of crop protection chemicals enabling farmers and contractors to save on input costs, to eliminate weed seed banks and to maximise crop moisture availability. The technology has also proven to be crucial in minimising the risk of herbicide resistances and to help minimise the environmental impact of agriculture.
After 25 years, it is still our drive to help farmers all over the world to maximize yield while reducing the use of crop protection chemicals with our innovative spraying technology.
Rewarded technology right from the start
2015 Silver Innovation Medal Agritechnica winner
The effectiveness of the detection technology was rewarded at the 2015 Agritechnica trade show with a Silver Innovation Medal.
Since 2011, Rometron is headquartered in Steenderen, The Netherlands, and develops, tests and manufacturers intelligent agricultural solutions including precision, selective and spot spraying technology. In December 2016, the 10,000th WEED-IT first generation sensor was sold and early 2021, the 10,000th WEED-IT Quadro was sold. This makes it the best-selling optical spot spraying system in the world!
Ongoing research and development
WEED-IT to control weeds on pavements in Europe
WEED-IT originates from a research project at the world’s best and most renowned agricultural university, Wageningen University and Research (WUR), in The Netherlands. Following that project, the first commercial WEED-IT product was developed in 1999: the WEED-IT MKI system. This selective spraying system was developed to efficiently control weeds on pavements, roads and city squares. Weeds were detected and a solenoid was activated at the right moment to only spray the detected weed, saving 50 to 70% on herbicides.
In 2006, the successor of WEED-IT MKI, the WEED-IT MK-II system was developed. The performance and effectiveness of the chlorophyll weed detection technology was improved significantly, resulting in far higher savings on herbicide usage. Furthermore, curve control and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) were integrated in the sensing technology.
Ten years after the introduction, legislative restrictions on the use of chemical weed elimination products put an end to herbicide usage on Dutch pavements, roads and city squares. Rometron also adapted the WEED-IT technology for weed detection and elimination by means of hot water while still supplying the original 'chemical application’ to the Danish and British market. Nonetheless, the chlorophyll weed detection technology is suitable to adapt to any type of weed elimination technology including mechanical hoeing, milling and laser technology.
World wide brand
WEED-IT for cost-effective weed management in large scale precision agriculture
Following increased demand for efficient and cost-effective weed management strategies in agriculture, especially from Australian farmers, the detection technology was further developed for agricultural purposes from 2009 onwards. Called WEEDit Ag, this new system was specially designed to meet the high standards required in the rough agriculture circumstances. With increased working widths up to 36 metres (120 feet), more robustness and the capability of dealing with higher working speeds up to 25 kph (16 mph). The region of application of the WEEDit Ag system expanded over the years and covers among others Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, Russia, South Africa, Uruguay and the USA.
Worldwide distribution network
Co-operation with WEED-IT local business partners is crucial in serving farmers all over the world. WEED-IT spot spraying technology is subject to different applications, depending on (amongst others):
- climate conditions and growing seasons
- the crop selected
- the integration with different spraying platforms
Rometron works closely together with regional business partners to thoroughly understand what it takes to make WEED-IT work in any part of the world!
WEED-IT QUADRO
WEED-IT Quadro is our current weed detection and elimination solution. It incorporates 10 years of worldwide experience with the WEEDit Ag system. Quadro refers to the four detection zones of every WEED-IT detection sensor, each accounting for 25 cm (10 inches) of the entire spray boom width. The small zones with improved optics with red LED- lighting makes sure the system never misses any weed. Whereas this additional accuracy is easily missed by the human eye.
Adding to the increased accuracy and efficiency is the new dual core processor for fast communication and high sampling frequency. It guarantees higher communication speeds that would be needed to enable VRA, weed and biomass mapping and working with application maps in the future.
Do you want to know more?
Agtech precision spraying solutions are on the rise. Agronomists and farmers are looking for solutions that can help them in maximizing yield while, at the same time saving on crop protection products. WEED-IT might be just the solution you are looking for! Please contact us to help you find your nearest dealer to book a meeting or to get a demo to see how WEED-IT can make the difference for your crops.
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