In Essex County, agricultural is the second largest segment of the local economy, after the automotive industry. That is why, with the world’s second largest collection of greenhouses located there, local industrial automation and tech companies see an opportunity to transfer their skills to the agricultural industry.
Durobyte vice president Curtis Laurie: “There’s automation in agriculture, but they have tended to look to the Netherlands for it because that’s what they’ve always done. Our challenge is to get them to look closer to home.”
Durobyte is literally on the cutting edge of the technology being introduced to horticulture; they’ve taken water jet cutting technology employed in the automotive industry and created an assembly line process that can be used by fruit and vegetable growers.
The company is now building four of these water jet cutting machines for customers. The first one will be shipped to an Arkansas mushroom company this week. Durobyte also has some local orders.
Source: windsorstar.com