Commercial laser weeders are being used in agriculture on the West Coast of the United States, costing about $1.5 million each. These are large machines that pass over crops, take photos, identify weeds with onboard computers and then kill them with a laser. The systems have been calibrated for West Coast weeds, soils and crops, but a new study tested their efficacy on the East Coast for peas, beets and spinach to positive effect. The alternative — herbicides — can be costly and lower crop yields. The lasers did well in the trial, reducing weed cover by 45 percent and density by up to 66 percent, resulting in 97 percent less weed biomass by the end of the season compared to untreated controls. Even better, crop stunting was less than 1 percent, and crop biomass increased up to 30 percent when laser weeding replaced herbicide use.
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