Crops Archives - Agri-EPI Centre

Tag Archive for: Crops

Agri-EPI network explores the importance of soil health

Agri-EPI Centre hosted a member community online special interest group titled Exploring the importance of soil health, that brought farmers and tech developers from across the agri-tech sector together online to discuss the value of soil health and soil sampling and opportunities for the use of technology to improve soils and performance.

The event was chaired by Claire Hodge, Head of Agri-Tech (Crops) at Agri-EPI Centre, and discussions were led by Kelsey Daly, student at Agri-EPI Centre, Andrew Francis, Co-Founder at Team AG UK, and Jake Freestone, Farm Manager at Overbury Farms.

Kelsey Daly began the conversation with an overview of the soils questionnaire that was handed out to the farmers in Agri-EPI’s innovation farm network. Many farmers reported that their soils had improved in recent years and that they were taking actions such as implementing mixed farming practices and reducing fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to aid in this improvement. Recommendations emerges such as a greater emphasis on research into reliable carbon sampling, the creation of compatible tech platforms for collection and storage of data and the development of a soil mapping platform.

Andrew Francis then discussed the need for a faster pace in delivering these technologies. He dove into the evolution of farming practices from historical physical samples, soil pits and manual and observational practices, to current remote sensing, soil and yield mapping practices, to future robots, drones, satellites, automation, modelled data and plant monitoring.

“The industry needs underpinning with a fast-learning model.”

Jake Freestone, one of our innovation farmers, discussed the importance of soil health on farm from a farmer’s perspective. On his farm, Jake works with 3 types of soil and each one has different characteristics and management needs. He explained that soil is at the heart of everything they do as farmers, no matter what kind of farm or what sector they work in.

“Soil is a hugely living organism which needs to be treated with a huge amount of respect”.

“The time for experimentation needs to be now”.

Discussion followed, where a number of questions were posed from the audience, and an array of thought-provoking answers were shared. A main takeaway was the huge number of opportunities available around soil health. Agri-EPI’s focus is finding the right opportunities and exploring them with our network and farmers to make sure the sector continues to deliver successful solutions for sustainable and innovative food production.

 

Questions included:

What would you need to help you speed up the regeneration of your soils?

Is there any need to reduce the cost or increase the density (time and space) of soil sampling?

What impact do you think healthier soils has had on yields and costs?

Discussing testing, do you test for microbiology and soil food web too?

Do you have a definition of regenerative farming in relation to soil? Do you think regenerative farming is possible?

What are the Carbon opportunities for the future?

Where do you see the future of organic fertiliser (solid and liquid)?

Exploring the importance of soil health

Around 6 million hectares of soil in England and Wales are at risk of either erosion or compaction and intensive agriculture has caused arable soils to lose between 40 and 60 percent of their organic carbon (gov.uk). The fertility of soils can be determined by soil analyses, which provide fundamental information on the status of a soil and enable the scheduling of fertiliser, lime and manure applications to maximise production.​ ​

Claire Hodge, Head of Agri-Tech (Crops) at Agri-EPI, said:

There is a need for agri-tech to support the measurement and management of soil health and fertility, and importantly we see a role for agri-tech to help farmers make better decisions on their soil health day by day. Our aim is to use real time soil analysis and quality data to understand changing farming systems and environmental conditions.”

Agri-EPI Centre released a questionnaire to their network of innovation farmers to obtain a greater understanding of the soils they work with and to steer future decisions about adopting new technology on farm. The questionnaire covered a wide range of topics all relating to the management of the soil on the farms. It was clear from the farmers’ responses that they are interested in improving their soil and understanding how they can produce crops and grass from their soil with the minimum number of inputs being used.

Regenerative agriculture has recently received significant attention from producers, farmers and growers, and Agri-EPI’s innovation farmers are taking different approaches to achieve more regenerative farming systems. Carbon sampling is one approach but the uptake within the network is only 56% of the farmers taking part. The farmers are generally looking at the value of their soils and how this can be measured in their businesses.

The most frequent complaint by the farmers was non-compatible services and having to rely on too many different platforms to reference crops, livestock, yields and soil samples.

 

Recommendations

  • There is a need for more research into reliable carbon sampling and interpretation of results. Standardised carbon auditing across the network is required for accurate measurements and collection of data on the farms.

 

  • Technology that can aid in the compatibility of services between farmers and allow for the storing of easily accessible information is also required. This could take the form of a platform used across the network for the collection and storage of the farms data.

 

  • It is necessary to assess the activities taking place on the farms in the network to determine whether they are having a positive or negative influence on regenerative practices.

 

  • The measure of nutrient application in variable rate manner is required for better utilisation of slurry, dung, fertiliser and lime.

 

  • The development of a soil mapping platform would aid in the measurement of many land-based activities including the spreading of fertiliser. This would aid in measuring change in the soil over specific periods of time.

 

Agri-EPI will be hosting a special interest group online event: ‘Exploring the importance of soil health’ on 19th April 11AM-12PM. Join to take part in forward thinking discussions, build community networks, and engage with other technology companies and farmers around how soil health can address specific challenges on farm.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/special-interest-group-exploring-the-importance-of-soil-health-tickets-557721759797

Agri-EPI expands farms team

Agri-EPI has developed its farm offering, including the addition of new members to their Farm management team over the last few of months.

Ross Robertson, head of mixed farms said:

“Over the last few months Agri-EPI has been investing heavily in its Mixed Farms Team and network of farms, bringing in an on-farm technician, enabling us to implement assets on farm, as well as speeding up the process of collecting data. In doing this, it will allow us to pick out gaps which could benefit from the use of technology to help aid on-farm decisions, as well as help to form project ideas & future collaborations with tech companies.”

 

Agri-EPI’s new crop farms technician, Richard Round, studied biology at the University of Bristol and received his Master’s in future food sustainability from Cranfield University. These studies equipped him with an understanding of the relationships between agriculture and the environment, and the challenges facing both in the 21st century. As crop farms technician, Richard ensures that all equipment on farm functions optimally, and that a strong line of communication is maintained between Agri-EPI and the crop farmers within the innovation farms network. By working on a variety of projects, Richards hopes to help bring forward innovation within the agricultural sector and promote both efficiency and sustainability within farming.

 

Agri-EPI’s new mixed farms technician, Murray Watson, works on the ground with mixed farms in Agri-EPI’s innovation farms network as the point of contact for the farmers. Murray comes from a family farm in Scotland, farming beef, sheep, and poultry. He has experience working on large dairy farms specialising mainly in calf rearing and herd management and he studied Agriculture at SRUC. Murray assists with the implementation of new tech and management of assets on Agri-EPI’s mixed farms.

 

Chukwudi Okolo has been at Agri-EPI since 2021 as project coordinator but has recently joined the Farms team to assist with the coordination and support of farm network activities. Having studied business management and business psychology, Chukwudi came to Agri-EPI eager to further his knowledge and experience in project management. He is now assisting with asset procurement and deployment for the farms, managing records and documents, and maintaining communication between Agri-EPI and our innovation farmers.

 

The Heads of the farms team include Claire Hodge, head of agri-tech (crops), Ross Robertson, head of agri-tech (mixed), Duncan Forbes, dairy project specialist, Robert Morrison, head of agri-tech (dairy) and Mike Jones, dairy technical manager.

 

Claire Hodge brings to the role as head of crops her in-depth knowledge and experience of the crop sector, and wide network of connections. Based at Agri-EPI’s Northern Hub in Edinburgh, she works both nationally and internationally and plays an especially important role in expanding the activities of Agri-EPI’s farm network. After graduating from Newcastle University in 2005 with a degree in agriculture, Claire worked on farms in New Zealand before joining Greenvale AP in 2006. It was here that she was introduced to the opportunities within the potato industry. Taking on various roles in procurement, trading, agronomy and factory production, she learnt about the challenges of the cycles in potato production.

 

Ross Robertson, head of mixed farms, comes from a farming background and has worked on farms from a young age. Ross graduated from SAC Craibstone with an HND in agriculture and went straight to work on a pedigree Aberdeen Angus farm. He progressed into sales after several years and then into area management and product development with a local manufacturer of quality livestock equipment. Working with technology equipment at development and design stages in an IUK project then led to furthering his career into his role at Agri-EPI Centre.

 

Dairy project specialist, Duncan Forbes, has great record of experience in the dairy industry. After several years in practical farming, Duncan moved into farm management consultancy and worked over twenty years as managing director at Kingshay. In his role at Agri-EPI Centre, based in Somerset, he is focussing on the development of the dairy research and demonstration facility for 180 cows combining robotic milking and feeding in a state-of-the-art building with precision grazing.

 

Agri-EPI’s head of dairy, Robert Morrison, has dedicated himself to the advancement of technology within the agri-tech sector throughout his career, with a particular focus on bringing tech to market. He served as the product manager at Fullwood Ltd, playing a crucial role in a global team responsible for conceptualising, designing, and introducing automated milking products within the Fullwood Packo Group. As head of dairy at Agri-EPI he is able to collaborate with a diverse range of exciting innovators, and work towards developing the next generation of agri-tech products contributing to the global effort of feeding the world, while also striving towards a carbon net zero future. Robert is deeply passionate about leveraging technology to enhance the productivity of farmers and facilitate them to work more sustainably to meet the growing needs of our society.

 

Finally, Mike Jones, dairy technical career, has centred his career on sustainable farm management in the dairy sector, including as Farm Manager of Wyndhurst Farm, Langford. Latterly he was precision technical manager at Cogent Breeding, where he was responsible for development and application of precision technology. Mike is based at Agri-EPI’s South West Dairy Development Centre but is responsible for dairy assets UK-wide. He plays a key role in steering Agri-EPI’s technical strategy in the dairy sector, as well as providing technical expertise and guidance in agri-tech R&D projects. He has a passion for dairy farming and in particular cow health and welfare. He brings experience in cow health monitoring technologies, remote management of dairy herds, cow mobility and fertility management, and in the practical deployment and use of agri-tech on dairy farms.

Spray UAV

Agricultural drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are set to disrupt the agriculture industry owing to their immense potential to make agriculture more efficient, precise, and productive, driving the economic case for drone use.

With farmers grappling with mounting pressure to boost production while adapting to climate change and dealing with increasing costs of production and changing support frameworks, drones present a compelling solution to improve the efficiency of the entire farming enterprise.

Growers and their advisors can exploit the technology for data collection to identify stressed areas of crops, study and map farmland, and improve irrigation efficiency. In addition to spraying water, fertilisers or pesticides on crops, drones can be used for livestock monitoring and tracking animal population and health.

Precision farming is all about making the right decisions at the right times, in the right quantity and right locations, and that is where spray UAV’s come into play.

UAV System (DJI AGRAS T10):

  • Automatically fly to a task route and avoid obstacles that have been marked in field planning
  • D-RTK can be used for centimeter-level positioning
  • Clear views of the front and rear of the aircraft thanks to the dual FPV cameras
  • UAV equipped with the Spherical Perception Radar System, providing functions such as terrain following, obstacle sensing, and obstacle circumventing.

Spraying System:

  • An 8L spray tank, four nozzles, and a 2-channel electromagnetic flow meter that provides even and accurate spraying for saving liquid and reducing operating costs
  • Variable rate fertilization by importing prescription maps to the remote controller and applying them to fields
  • Spray width of up to 5 meters allow the aircraft to cover up to 15 acres/hour

The application potential of this drone includes farmland fertilisation and infestation/disease control of crops. We offer this UAV as a service to help researchers in UAV spraying to explore how it integrates with current agricultural systems, especially in the context of UK legislation in the area.

For information on renting out our technical assets please contact team@agri-epicentre.com

Paraguay SMART Farm Project: Adapting Origin Digital’s Contour Platform to the South American Climate

Agri-EPI Centre has been leading the Innovate UK-supported SMART Farm project in Paraguay since January 2018. It has involved partnering with a farming business to demonstrate UK agri-tech in the agricultural economy of Paraguay.

The farming business, GVASA in San Pedro, spans 85,000 hectares and incorporates cattle, maize, soybean and rice production enterprises. This phase of the SMART Farm project has focused on implementing Origin Digital’s Contour platform across GVASA’s arable fields, providing the farmer with in-depth soil health information, effective crop growth models, and enabling variable rate application.

Origin has worked collaboratively with Agri-Epi and Innovate UK to gather information on 6927 hectares of field boundaries and cropping information in Paraguay. Management zones were created over 1,661 of these hectares using soil brightness technology, and 589.6 had precision zonal sampling done on them for nutrient analysis.

Using crop growth model rulesets developed for Africa, the team were able to deploy these models in Paraguay with high levels of accuracy. Minor localisation of the models further increased the accuracy confirming the localisable value. These models include crop growth stage and yield predictors.

“The African models showed a strong correlation with actual South American yields , says Dan Wood at Origin Digital.

“And accuracy improved further when adjustments were made to the models to begin localising them further to South America, showing that our crop growth models can be successfully deployed in this geography.”

A particularly useful outcome is variable rate fertiliser recommendations, which can lead to significant cost savings, increased soil health, and improved efficiencies, yield and profitability.

“It has been a pleasure to manage the Paraguay SMART Farm project, particularly facilitating Origin Digital’s successful adaption of the Contour platform to the South American climate,” says Emily Laskin, farms technical coordinator at Agri-EPI.

“Seeing British technology provide efficiency and sustainability benefits to farming practices internationally shows us how we can make a difference and is a source of pride for the entire team at Agri-EPI.”

The economic outcome of introducing UK technology means more profitable farming systems, reduced environmental footprint and improved economic sustainability.

 

Read more:

Paraguay case study

Agri-tech expertise yields results for robotics firm

An agri-tech company from Essex is helping farmers overcome labour shortages and practice precision agriculture, thanks to support from the Agri-EPI Centre.

Antobot is developing two robots which will help farmers target valuable resources in the most productive areas, as well as taking some time-consuming tasks off skilled workers.

The Agri-EPI Centre has supported Antobot with knowledge and their network in agriculture, increasing understanding of the sector and facilitating connections with growers, research organisations and other companies.

They have collaborated on multiple grant funding applications with successful joint bids to develop agri-tech innovations. The Agri-EPI Centre’s invaluable knowledge and networking has helped Antobot to develop their business and market potential, contributing to their successful £1.2m seed round in 2021.

Antobot business development manager Zoë Stockton said:

“We first started working with the Agri-EPI Centre in 2020 and have built a great relationship with the team.

“One of the greatest benefits of our relationship with Agri-EPI Centre has been the expert knowledge they have, particularly about funding streams to help us innovate. As a result of that help, we were awarded Project Insight in UKRI and Defra’s Farming Innovation Pathways program which we are working on with Agri-EPI.

“The development of our Insight robot is the focus of this 24-month project, and Agri-EPI are involved as project managers and knowledge experts.

“They were really useful when we were going through that funding application. The relationship has also directly delivered new business for us, helping us to grow and create sustainable jobs. The assistance has been invaluable.”

Agri-EPI Centre, part of the UK’s Agri-Tech Strategy and supported by Innovate UK, helps develop profitable and productive solutions to empower more sustainable farms and aims to support projects which will generate economic growth and help tackle the global issues of sustainability and feeding the world.

There are four centres across the UK, dedicated to innovation.

Antobot has created a modular robot system which can be adapted for different purposes. The first two applications being developed are Insight, a scouting robot, and Assist, which is used for logistics.

Insight is currently in field trials on partner farms, primarily with strawberry and apple crops. It can collect and process data about crop growth and ripeness so precious worker resources can be directed to the areas where yield is likely to be higher.

 

Read more:

Antobot case study

Tag Archive for: Crops

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