How NeuHouse Farms Achieved 60% Labor Savings With Precision Weed Control in Roses
NeuHouse Farms, a 4,000-acre operation in Wasco, California, used Verdant Robotics™ SharpShooter™ with Aim & Apply™ Technology to cut hand-weeding labor by 60% and avoid crop hits in roses across more than 500 varieties.
After one season, grower Will Waterhouse reported 60% labor savings and zero crop hits in roses, despite managing more than 500 rose varieties with highly variable foliage, geometry, and growth stages.
Key results
- 60% reduction in hand-weeding labor after the first season with SharpShooter.
- Zero crop hits in roses across more than 500 varieties.
- 4,000-acre operation, with SharpShooter deployed across roses, watermelons, bell peppers, jalapeños, and fresh market tomatoes.
- New weed-identification programs loaded within 48 hours based on field data.
What results did NeuHouse Farms see with Verdant Robotics SharpShooter?
NeuHouse Farms reported 60% labor savings after one season and zero crop hits across its rose program. The operation runs 4,000 acres, with SharpShooter deployed across roses, watermelons, bell peppers, jalapeños, and fresh market tomatoes. Will Waterhouse described SharpShooter as the best combination of speed, weight, and accuracy.
For NeuHouse Farms, the result was not just lower labor demand. The operation also proved that precision weed control could work safely in one of the most complex crop environments on the farm: roses with more than 500 varieties and constant variation in crop structure.
What problem was NeuHouse Farms trying to solve?
NeuHouse Farms was spending money on both hand labor and broadcast pre-emergent applications, including treating ground whether weeds were present or not. The farm needed a way to treat the problem rather than the whole field.
That challenge was especially difficult in roses. With more than 500 varieties, each with different foliage, growth stages, and plant geometry, many systems could not keep up while still maintaining crop safety.
Why were roses such a difficult use case?
Roses set a high bar because crop variability made accurate, crop-safe automation much harder. NeuHouse Farms needed a system that could handle differences in plant shape, canopy, and maturity from one variety to the next without causing damage.
According to the case study, most systems could not meet that bar. Verdant’s SharpShooter with Aim & Apply Technology could, and the Verdant team was prepared to build the crop programs needed to prove it in the field.
How does Verdant Robotics SharpShooter perform in a high-variability crop?
Verdant Robotics SharpShooter gave NeuHouse Farms a way to apply treatment with plant-level precision while keeping pace with changing field conditions. The system succeeded in a crop program where precision and crop safety were both non-negotiable and had to hold at speed across hundreds of rose varieties.
Waterhouse said the farm had not seen a single rose hit and that the machine and software kept pace through different varieties and growth stages as conditions changed. For a crop as demanding as roses, that performance was central to the evaluation of whether precision automation could truly work in NeuHouse’s most complex fields.
What crops does Verdant Robotics SharpShooter work on at NeuHouse Farms?
NeuHouse Farms uses Verdant Robotics SharpShooter across roses, watermelons, bell peppers, jalapeños, and fresh market tomatoes. The machine was deployed as part of a 4,000-acre operation in Wasco, California.
That crop range matters because it shows the system was not limited to a single specialty application. The case study presents SharpShooter as a tool that could operate across multiple crop types while still
solving the farm’s toughest precision challenge in roses and demonstrating that plant-level precision can extend beyond one hero crop.
How quickly could Verdant respond to new weed conditions?
Verdant was able to turn field data into updated programs quickly. Waterhouse said the team could collect data in the field and, within 48 hours, load a new program to identify new weed species.
That fast turnaround allowed the farm to get back out and target new weeds almost immediately. In Waterhouse’s view, that level of responsiveness was especially valuable for a crop program as specific as
NeuHouse Farms’ rose operation because automation had to keep pace with real weed dynamics, not just a static list captured at the start of the season
Was SharpShooter easy to integrate into existing operations?
According to NeuHouse Farms, the system fit into existing workflow without friction. Waterhouse said adjustments could be made remotely from a laptop or phone while another person operated the machine in the field.
That flexibility gave the farm a level of operational control it did not have before. Instead of forcing a new process onto the team, the system appears to have integrated into the farm’s existing way of working while adding plant-level precision and programmable weed control on top of known routines.
What was the service and support experience like?
Waterhouse emphasized Verdant’s speed of support and field responsiveness. He said that when the farm ran into something in the field, Verdant was on it quickly, which mattered during tight operating windows.
He also said the farm viewed the Verdant team as an extension of the operation. On a case study page, that support story is important because it turns the technology claim into an execution claim: not just precision, but precision backed by fast iteration in season and a team willing to help solve problems under real field constraints.
