Growers need to spray efficiently so they can apply pesticides and fertilizer only to crops – and minimize the chemicals that may contaminate natural resources.

As they battle the economically devastating citrus greening disease, farmers must look to control costs wherever possible.

With that in mind, Yiannis Ampatzidis is engaging artificial intelligence to develop a low-cost, smart tree-crop sprayer that can automatically detect citrus trees, calculate their height and leaf density and count fruit. That way, the farmers target their spray more efficiently, so it lands on trees and leaves – and reduces chemical use by about 30%, compared to traditional spray methods.

“These smart technologies can save the fruit tree industry millions of dollars per year by optimizing chemical applications,” said Ampatzidis, a UF/IFAS associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center.

Smart-spray technology lets the grower vary the amount applied based on tree size and leaf density, and it will not spray if there is no tree or if a tree appears dead. It also does not spray if it finds other objects, such as a water pump, a pole or a person, as examples.

“This new technology will further enhance the tree-profiling systems we have in place today, with the ability to detect and only spray the target foliage,” Ampatzidis said. “Our data, collected by smart sensors, can control the amount of spray applied to the tree, in real time, and is stored in the controller to be downloaded for further processing.”

Florida Hunting Outfitter

Old Venus began as an area called Fisheating Creek. It was located at the junction of two military trails. Cattle drivers who traveled those trails began settling in Venus in the mid-1800s.

There is still an unincorporated area known as Venus, and a considerable number of people have remained living there, though most are now scattered on cattle ranches and citrus farms. At one time, a few miles from the current Venus, there was an actual thriving town that county records list as Highlands County's oldest settlement.

As the settlement grew into a town, its name was changed to Venus by a sawmill owner who regularly traveled to Arcadia for supplies. It was said the mill owner liked to make the two-day trip traveling at night. He found his way home by following the bright planet, so Venus came to represent home.