Crops Archives

Spray UAV

13th December 2022/in Agri-tech, Blog, Crops and Soil, Data, Drones, Engineering and Manufacturing, Farmers and Food Suppliers, Robotics, AI and Automation, Sustainability

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

1st September 2022/in Agri-tech, Blog, Crops and Soil, Data, Farmers and Food Suppliers, Government and Policy, International, Research and development, Satellite Imagery, Sustainability

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.

Paraguay case study

Agri-tech expertise yields results for robotics firm

31st August 2022/in Agri-tech, Crops and Soil, Farmers and Food Suppliers, News, Project, Research and development, Robotics, AI and Automation, Sustainability

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.

Antobot case study

Farming Innovation Pathways: LightWeeding

10th March 2022/in Agri-tech, Crops and Soil, Farmers and Food Suppliers, News, Robotics, AI and Automation, Sustainability

The LightWeeder is a world-first eye-safe, herbicide-free, carbon neutral, commercially viable weeding system delivered by lightweight autonomous field robots via UK agri-robotics company and Agri-EPI Centre member, Earth Rover.

The LightWeeding technology uses semiconductor LEDs to solve key technical, safety and commercialisation challenges faced by laser-based weeding systems.

The LightWeeder is part of CLAWS (Concentrated Light Autonomous Weeding and Scouting), Earth Rover’s agri robot that can kill weeds using a unique concentrated light method, and can also scout fields to obtain a complete data map of all crops after planting, showing the crops exact location, size, and any early signs of disease.

The main features of CLAWS are:

Weeding – chemical free and inherently safer than laser weeding. No till and no crop damage and can be used in any conditions without compacting the soil.
Scouting – In depth analysis of crops to allow better harvest predictions and increased yields

The complete system is ultra-lightweight (only 300kg) meaning it requires low amounts of energy to run, and is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than many of its competitors. It runs on batteries and (eventually) solar panels therefore uses no fossil fuels and helps farmers meet their net zero targets.

With increasing types of chemical-resistant weeds, a significant downturn in availability of hand labour plus a shift in society towards more organic options, now more than ever there is a need to change the way we farm. A recent report by Rothamsted Research shows weeds “pose an unprecedented threat to our food security” and highlights the need to diversify weed control as an urgent priority.

As explained by John Taylor, Farm Director at Pollybell Organic Farm,

“the key element here is that the LightWeeder not only makes chemical free farming more effective but it also solves the huge issue farmers are facing today in terms of the huge loss in labour force. Being able to weed fields autonomously means that food production doesn’t just grind to a halt.”

Lightweeding has several advantages over mechanical systems: it is energy-efficient and no-till, it does not damage drip irrigation or crops, it is not dependent on soil conditions, and it does not enable weeds to develop resistance. However, effective lightweeding must be low-cost, fast, and offer safe autonomous operation in modern farm environments – criteria that does not exist in-the market at this time.

Agri-EPI explores drone technology for precision spraying

21st February 2022/in Agri-tech, Crops and Soil, Drones, News

Use of drone technology in precision agriculture has gained popularity in recent years, however there are still legislative barriers preventing widespread adoption, something which Agri-EPI explored in a recent webinar. Currently drones can be used for surveying, mapping, crop monitoring and disease detection. But advances in technology mean autonomous crop pesticide applications could be a reality – if the regulations keep up.

“Precision technology can tackle key agricultural challenges – using variable rate and precise application can reduce spray use and improve yields,” explained Hannah Tew, ecosystem director at Connected Places Catapult.

From a health and safety aspect, there are some benefits too.

“There are huge opportunities in accessibility to remove potential risks,” said James Thomas, sustainable and responsible business manager EAME at Syngenta. “For example, in Asia using drones removes the need for someone to be knee deep in water in a rice field or someone spraying a steep vineyard.”

However, in the UK the Sustainable Use Directive 14 forbids aerial spraying, including the use of drones, although there is a derogation available through the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). And there are questions on the efficacy of application.

“Comparing a mist blower and a drone for controlling powdery mildew in grapes, the conventional sprayer came out much better due to the lack of drift,” said Mr Thomas.

But drone technology is advancing all the time.

“We’re heading into the fourth agricultural revolution and things are changing rapidly, but chemicals will still be around for a while,” added Bryn Bircher, policy officer at HSE. “There is the issue of drift; we know there is a lot of drift with a boom sprayer but we don’t know the effect of drift from drones yet.”

And some drones do boast an impressive time saving.

“A drone with a 20-litre tank can cover 15 hectares an hour,” explained Robert Pearson at Auto Spray Solutions.

It’s important to remember that drones are not replacing conventional systems.

“People will only use the drone if it’s better for the job than the conventional way,” added Jack Wrangham at Drone Ag.

And it’s not just spraying which drones could be useful for, they could be used for mapping, applying solid fertiliser, seeds and slug pellets.

“Farmers could get field reports in minutes, just from flying a drone across the field – close up imagery can be used for crop uniformity and accessing the severity of weed patches,” said Mr Wrangham. “This could inform variable rate applications, so chemicals are only applied where necessary.”

Regulatory challenges aside, the HSE is working alongside the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to establish what can be done to make drone operations safe.

“It is possible to apply for a permit, which will be unique to each business,” said Mr Bircher. “We want to support new tech and I hope we can do so, with the existing legislation.”

Omega Crop to demonstrate “world first” weed and disease detection tech at Innovation Week

13th May 2021/in Agri-tech, Crops and Soil, News

New technology for accurately identifying wheat-damaging weeds and diseases at their point of emergence in a crop has been developed in the UK, in what is believed to be a world first.

The innovative ‘early warning’ system was invented by British agri-tech company Omega Crop (formerly Dark Horse Technologies) with the support of Agri-EPI Centre and Cranfield University. Innovate UK funding was provided under a programme to boost post-Covid food resilience.

Omega Crop’s new technology to be featured during Agri-EPI’s Innovation Week

It uses Omega Crop’s patented crop modelling technology, which analyses drone-gathered images of a wheat crop to identify the presence of preventable disease and weeds, often before a farmer or agronomist could detect the problem by eye. This gives the farmer time to make an informed choice about if and how they can intervene to protect their yield.

Jared Bainbridge, Founder and Chief Executive of Omega Crop will lifting the lid on the new technology at a webinar on Tuesday 25 May as part of Agri-EPI’s Innovation Week.

Jared said: “At present, other remote sensing platforms can only monitor the performance of a crop and then they correlate this performance to a “best guess” at what the problem is. They might tell you, you have a disease or weed problem, but they are unable to tell you what diseases, or what weeds.

Maximising yields, lower costs

“Omega Crop’s technology differs from our competitors through our proprietary crop model which we use to best inform you of crop performance, quality, and crop-loss events. It takes the guess-work out of the process by using multiple sources of data from satellites, drone, mobiles phones, hyper-local weather, as well as any other available sources (e.g. soil sampling, any in-field data collected from farmers or agronomists) to accurately diagnose and map the crop-loss events in a field provided as a digital report via our platform to the farmer and agronomist. Omega Crop is also able to integrate with existing farm machinery to target solutions on a plant-by-plant basis. The two key benefits are that farmers can maximise yields through early interventions and lower the cost of production through more precise application of treatments.”

Omega Crop’s system was recently trialled over a three-month period at Agri-EPI’s Crop Technology Southern Innovation Hub based at Cranfield University, supported by Cranfield’s crop science experts.

Dr Toby Waine, Senior Lecturer in applied remote sensing at Cranfield University said: “This project shows how innovative sensing and analytics can better inform business and environmental decisions. Detecting crop disease and weeds earlier in the season will help to reduce the use of plant protection products, helping to maximise efficiency of production and minimise environmental impact. It’s fantastic to be working with SMEs like Omega Crop who are helping bring forward the innovative technologies we need to improve food supply, reduce waste and protect the environment.”

After proving the success of the system, the trials have now moved on to real farms in UK, Europe and the United States. The system can so far detect Black Grass, Septoria and Fusarium Head Blight. Omega Crop is rapidly building up a library of additional weeds and diseases on multiple crops to increase the scope of their product.

Duncan Ross, Agri-EPI Business Development Manager for Crops said: “Agri-EPI seeks to bring together those with the expertise to develop and deliver new technologies that support productive, sustainable and profitable food production, the need for which has become even more strongly recognised following Covid lockdown supply issues. This project is a prime example of what can be achieved by connecting industry, science and farmers on the ground and we are excited to see how Omega Crop’s system is rolled out commercially to farmers in the near future.”

Special Interest Group: Exploring the importance of soil health

23rd February 2023/in Agri-Tech, Crops and Soil, Farmers and Food Suppliers, Sustainability

Agri-EPI invites members and Farm Tech Circle members to attend a special interest group event: Exploring the importance of soil health.

The special interest group is an opportunity for members to join in forward thinking discussions, build community networks, and engage with other tech companies and farmers. This is a virtual event will be taking place on the 19th April 11AM-12PM, and is aimed at facilitating open and honest conversations around how soil health can address specific challenges for farmers.

The agenda will include a welcome and introduction from Claire Hodge, Head of Crops at Agri-EPI Centre, overview from Kelsey Daly, student at Agri-EPI about her findings on-farm.

Discussions from Agri-EPI farm network farmer Jake Freestone of Overbury Enterprises and Andrew Francis, COO from Team AG UK who has held the position of Farms Director for a large Estate and Agri Business with previous roles encompassing Senior and Production Management. His attention to detail and critical appraisal of farm systems and supply chains has embedded granular levels of knowledge in the production and supply of combinable and root vegetable crops across a range of soil types and farming systems.

Agri-EPI Farm Walk: Newton Farm

30th January 2023/in Agri-Tech, Crops and Soil, Engineering and Manufacturing, Farmers and Food Suppliers, Livestock, Satellite Farms, Sustainability

Agri-EPI invites you to attend an on-farm day at Newton Farm in Brecon, Wales on the 11th May 10AM-2PM. There are a limited number of tickets available, and we will be accepting registration on a first-come, first-serve basis

This event will be hosted by Richard Roderick, Farmer at Newton Farm and will include an introduction to the farm, a farm walk, and a networking lunch for all attendees.

About Newton Farm:

Owners Richard & Helen Roderick, along with their son Tudor, farm 850 acres including 200 acres they’ve recently rented and plan to farm regeneratively. The Roderick’s manage a diverse business, including an impressive outwintered herd of stabiliser cattle, a flock of 800 ewes, and an arable enterprise. The Roderick’s are passionate about a number of farming topics, including carbon sequestration, grassland management, and animal health.

Richard and Helen’s vision is for Newton Farm to be a profitable mixed farm, which maximises the use of its own resources, while increasing biodiversity and conserving the wildlife and historical features of the farm. To achieve this, their strategy is to focus on sustainability, genetics, and maximizing the use of forage and root crop.

Agenda:

10am- Arrival teas, coffees, and breakfast baps

10.30am- Introduction from Ross Robertson, Head of Mixed, Agri-EPI and handover for a welcome from Richard Roderick, Farmer, Newton Farm and an overview of the farm.

Explanation of the work taking place on Newton Farm as part of the Beacon Water Group from Nigel Elgar, BBMC Project Manager at Welsh Water

10.45am-Walking farm tour to include…

Demonstration of Beef Monitor and Combi Clamp from Carwyn Davies, Sales Manager for Wales at Ritchies. Ritchie were established over 150yrs ago, and specialises in the design and manufacturing of innovative high-quality agricultural and industrial equipment.

Explanation from John Smout, Sales Manager for UK & Ireland of NoFence who created the world’s first virtual fencing for livestock.

Explanation from Jose Chitty, Chief of Operations at SmartBell who provide automated monitoring solutions for animal health and management decisions and WellCalf which is a digital assistant for calf rearing.

The tour will also include a tour of the wider farm via tractor and trail.

1pm- Lunch and networking at the shed

2pm-Event ends

If you are interested in sponsoring the event please contact members@agri-epicentre.com.

Tag Archive for: Crops