2026 Program
Conferences program
The 9th AGRITECH DAY will take place on OCTOBER 14, 2026 in BEAUVAIS, France at Agrispace Massey Ferguson.
Plenary Session
8.30 – 9.00
CONFERENCE OPENING
Agricultural Robotics: Research Findings and Operational Feedback
crop protection
9.00 – 9.30 – Room 1
Rethinking Crop Management Practices for Robot Integration: Lessons Learned from Four Years of Sugar Beet Experiments
Thomas LEBORGNE – ITB
Following four years of trials with sugar beet, the ITB has shown that the introduction of a weeding robot requires a complete rethink of the entire production process, from sowing to harvest. Despite challenges relating to monitoring and reliability, these robots offer significant agronomic and economic benefits, particularly in organic farming, thanks to highly effective precision weeding.
9.00 – 9.30 – Room 2
How BLISS Ecospray’s Air-Confinement Technology Virtually Eliminates Spray Drift?
Mathilde GUICHARD – BLISS ECOSPRAY
A new aeroconfinement spraying technology for viticulture uses laminar air streams to contain droplets within the treatment zone, reducing air drift by 95% while improving crop coverage and the effectiveness of pesticide applications.
9.30 – 10.00 – Room 1
Scalable Agricultural Robotics: Assessing the Operational Maturity of Lightweight Field Robots on Farms as a Foundation for Responsible Innovation Supporting Agroecology
Alexandre PREVAULT OSMANI – SABI AGRIThe widespread adoption of agricultural robots requires moving beyond mere technological demonstrations to assess their operational maturity in real-world farming environments. An evaluation framework based on performance indicators, standardised field data and a clear definition of the scope of application is proposed in order to objectively measure the robots’ ability to provide a sustainable, reliable service that is compatible with agroecological objectives.
9.30 – 10.00 – Room 2
Development of a Methodology for the Evaluation of Rotary Disc Nozzles Used on Spraying Drones
Jean-Paul DOUZALS – INRAE
An experimental methodology has been developed to characterise the size of the droplets produced by the rotating disc nozzles on spray drones. Initial results show that the disc’s rotational speed and flow rate have a significant influence on droplet size, providing essential data for optimising treatment efficacy and minimising the risk of drift.
10.00 – 10.30 – Room 1
Commercial Strategies of Agricultural Robot Manufacturers in Europe: What Business Models?
Mohammad NAIM – UNILASALLEA study of European manufacturers of agricultural robots has identified three main business models: robots that replace tractors, task-specific robots, and livestock automation systems. The findings show that value creation is increasingly based on services, software and subscriptions, rather than simply the sale of machinery.
10.00 – 10.30 – Room 2
A Methodology for Evaluating the Detection Performance of a Spot Spraying System in Field Crops
Paul MELKI – EXXACT ROBOTICS
An evaluation methodology has been developed to reliably measure the detection performance of spot spraying systems under real-world conditions. Based on a comparison between reference maps and detection maps, it enables the precise quantification of the algorithms’ ability to detect weeds and the analysis of the influence of control parameters and field conditions.
10.30 – 11.00
Break
Agricultural Robotics: Technology and Deployment
Mechanical Weed Control Solutions
11.00 – 11.30 – Room 1
MTAD: A Novel Obstacle Detection Method for Complex Agricultural Environments
Théo BIARDEAU – CYCLAIR
A new obstacle detection method based on unsupervised artificial intelligence enables agricultural robots to automatically identify unexpected objects (such as people, stakes and irrigation pipes) without the need for an annotated database. The results demonstrate detection performance that surpasses that of conventional approaches, thereby enhancing the safety of autonomous robots in complex agricultural environments.
11.00 – 11.30 – Room 2
Experimental Test Bench for Alternative Weed Control Technologies
Daniel BOFFETY – INRAE
An innovative test bench has been developed to evaluate, under controlled and reproducible conditions, the performance of alternative weed control technologies (detection, decision-making and action). This facility will enable solutions to be assessed and compared prior to their validation in the field, thereby accelerating the development of new agroecological weed control equipment.
11.30 – 12.00 – Room 1
Designing and Managing Robotized Agroecological Cropping Systems: Challenges and Limitations from the Ninsar Project
Manon BOULET – INRAEThe Ninsar project is evaluating the coordinated use of multiple agricultural robots to implement innovative agroecological practices. Initial results indicate significant potential for agroecology, but also highlight major obstacles relating to compatibility between robots, tools and cropping systems, necessitating the co-design of equipment and agricultural practices.
11.30 – 12.00 – Room 2
What Mechanical Alternatives to Glyphosate Are Available for Arable Cropping Systems?
Damien BRUN – ARVALISThe AGILE project shows that mechanical alternatives to glyphosate can be effective in certain situations, but their performance is highly dependent on post-intervention weather conditions, the level of weed infestation, and the type of tool used. While some solutions can occasionally match the effectiveness of glyphosate, they are generally more expensive, slower, and less versatile, particularly when dealing with grasses.
12.00 – 13.30
Lunch break
Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization of Agricultural Machinery
Precision Agriculture
13.30 – 14.00 – Room 1
Evaluation of energy consumption of field operations in a dairy farm
Antti LAJUNEN – HELSINKI UNIVERSITYA study combining field measurements and simulation analyses the energy consumption of the main operations on a dairy farm and shows that numerical models can reliably estimate the energy requirements of agricultural work. These results provide a valuable basis for sizing and evaluating future low-carbon powertrains (electric, hybrid, biomethane, hydrogen) suited to the actual uses of tractors.
13.30 – 14.00 – Room 2
Evaluating the Spreadability of Granular Products Using Centrifugal Spreaders
Sylvain VILLETTE – AGRO DIJON / INRAE
A study combining experimental measurements and numerical simulations shows that the physical properties of granular products (size, density, aerodynamic drag) directly influence their suitability for spreading over wide widths. The results link working width to ejection range and contribute to the development of new, more efficient spreading products and systems.
14.00 – 14.30 – Room 1
Towards an Optimal Model of Energy and Agronomic Performance for barley Sowing Operations
Diego URBINA SALAZAR & Carolina UGARTE – UNILASALLE
A multi-objective optimization approach identifies the most efficient seeding settings by balancing energy consumption and agronomic performance. The results show that simple parameters, such as forward speed, working depth, load distribution, and tire pressure, can be adjusted to significantly reduce fuel consumption while maintaining seeding quality.
14.00 – 14.30 – Room 2
Morpho-Geometric Characterization of Fertilizer Particles Under Field Conditions: A Comparison of Controlled Sampling and Expert Vision Methods with Bulk Machine Learning Approaches
Emeric LECLAIR – BUREL GROUP
An on-board computer vision method enables the rapid characterisation of the particle size and morphology of fertilisers directly in the field. Initial results show that an approach based on the analysis of images of controlled samples offers accuracy comparable to laboratory measurements, paving the way for more precise calibration of spreaders in precision farming.
14.30 – 15.00 – Room 1
From Diesel to BioCNG and Hydrogen: Transforming Agricultural Mobile Machinery with Internal Combustion Engine
Olivier MARCHAND – CRMT
An analysis of the conversion of diesel engines to BioNGV and hydrogen shows that these fuels can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of agricultural machinery whilst maintaining the performance of internal combustion engines. Despite constraints relating to range and storage, they represent credible transitional solutions towards the decarbonisation of agricultural machinery
14.30 – 15.00 – Room 2
RTK Guidance Systems for Agricultural Vehicles: Applications, User Perceptions, and Implications for the Agroecological Transition
Damien CALAIS, Eve FAIVRE & Lydiane MARREC – AGRO DIJON / ARVALIS
A survey of 890 users shows that RTK autosteering has become a key tool for precision farming operations, but that discrepancies between the signal’s theoretical accuracy and the accuracy actually achieved on the ground can hinder the development of advanced agroecological practices. The results highlight the value of a test bench or certification scheme to guarantee the performance of autosteering systems.
15.00 – 15.30
Break
Virtual Environments and Digital Twins
Safety and Protection of Agricultural Machinery
15.30 – 16.00 – Room 1
Towards Learning Agricultural Product Representations from a Simulated Environment
Adrien SCHOCKAERT – DOWNS DUBRULLE
An approach based on deep learning and digital twins enables the reconstruction of geometry and the estimation of the physical properties of agricultural products from 2D images. By generating realistic virtual objects for simulation, this method facilitates the creation of synthetic data and accelerates the development of intelligent perception systems for agricultural machinery.
15.30 – 16.00 – Room 2
Securing the Digital Farm: Why Agricultural Machinery Must Be Cyber-Resilient by Design
Gregor KNAPPIK – VICONE
Connected agricultural machinery is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. In light of the requirements of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), manufacturers must adopt a ‘secure by design’ approach in order to strengthen the resilience of their equipment, manage vulnerabilities and ensure the continuity of critical agricultural operations.
16.00 – 16.30 – Room 1
Scenario Generation and Autonomous Control for High-Precision Vineyard Operations in Virtual Environments
Thomas KARASIEWICZ – IPG AUTOMOTIVEA methodology based on high-fidelity simulation enables the design, testing and optimisation of autonomous driving strategies for vineyards prior to their actual deployment. By combining the generation of realistic virtual scenarios with predictive control, this approach improves the accuracy and reliability of autonomous tractors whilst significantly reducing the need for field trials.
16.00 – 16.30 – Room 2
Safety device to prevent mobile machinery from overturning
Bastien LAURENT – INRAEA low-cost on-board safety system has been developed to estimate the risk of rollover in mobile agricultural machinery in real time, using inertial sensors and GPS. Tested on various types of machinery, it alerts the operator or automatically intervenes on an autonomous vehicle to prevent rollover incidents.
Plenary Concluding Conference
16.30 – 17.15
Plenary Session
17.15 – 17.30
CONCLUSION
Stéphane LAMPERIÈRE
MASSEY FERGUSON BRAND STYLING DIRECTOR & DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING
AXEMA Technical Committee Chairman
SPONSORS DE L'AGRITECH DAY 2026
