12 people using it would have a hard time going back now. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to work and see some of those new benefits. With the labour situation the way it is, I think some of this tech will be adopted more quickly." MADE-IN-ONTARIO AUTONOMY SOLUTIONS Many new systems are designed and produced outside of Ontario, particularly by smaller ag-tech developers. What's more, some of those developers do not have a deep background in agricultural production, either academically or from direct field experience, adding another layer of apprehension for some growers. In particular, Ontario's growing conditions and crop production can be vastly different from other geographies — California, for example. Ensuring new systems are effective in Ontario's growing conditions spurred the creation of an Ontario-specific agricultural autonomous working group. The collaboration involves a wide range of technology developers, researchers, extension specialists, farmers, and agribusinesses, including Haggerty Creek Ltd. The overarching goal — find what works, what doesn't, and how to improve autonomous machines by putting them to the test in Ontario fields. A demonstration event featuring some of the machines currently undergoing field trials was held in July 2022. Chuck Baresich, general manager for Haggerty Creek, reiterated to attendees the working group's purpose includes showing growers that autonomous machines can, and do, have a place in the field — provided effective operation and logistics issues are resolved. "I've always been interested in trying to improve production systems. How can we practice with and develop this technology? Believe it or not, this technology doesn't work right out of the box," says Baresich. "That's one of the reasons we're taking baby steps bringing these machines out. Not only do we need to resolve the technology, the tooling, the GPS, RTK, and cellular communications, we also have to solve the logistics piece. How do you charge them? How do you fix them? What errors happen? All these types of questions." l THE NEXAT WITH THE NEXCO SINGLETREE COMBINE HARVESTING GRAIN CORN FROM ABOVE. PHOTO COURTESY OF NEXAT GMBH © WWW.NEXAT.DE. continued from page 11 (and its parent company CNH Industrial), as a notable example. "All manufacturers are leaning more and more towards fleet management, or managing from afar. Everyone has offerings. There are new things coming all the time," he says, though he adds there are also significant and comparatively under-the-radar advances in non-guidance-related areas. Ensuring people are aware of what tools are available and how to integrate them into their operations is the challenge. Regarding the openness of farmers to autonomous tools and machines, his experience highlights a predictable range — some are keen to try the latest advances, while others want to wait until the tool in question has proven itself. "It all comes with a cost, of course, but I think I probably tend to agree there can [be apprehension]. Until they get using it, they don't necessarily see some of the benefits," says Siertsema. "It's kind of back to when auto guidance became more mainstream. Some of the
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