farm walk Archives - Agri-EPI Centre

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Farm walk brings together agri-tech community at Upper Nisbet Farm

   

   

 

This month Agri-EPI hosted another successful on-farm day in Scotland at one of their innovation farms, Upper Nisbet Farm, in collaboration with farmers Robert, Jac and Andrew Neill.

Agri-EPI members and representatives from across the agri-tech sector met up for a farm tour and day of networking, discussions, and precision tech demonstrations.

Autonomous grain storage monitoring company, Crover, showed a live demo of their grain swimming robot.

Lorenzo Conti, Founder and Manging Director, explained:

“The main aim is to help farmers like Rob, but also grain storage operators and grain merchants, to store large quantities of grain to maintain the quality of their stock, to better plan their businesses, and also to improve the health and safety of their operations”.

KEENAN, a respected leader in sustainable and profitable farming solutions focused on maximising feed efficiency, demonstrated their mixer wagon in action. Datamars, who enable the harnessing of data to measurably improve productivity and quality of life for livestock farmers, demonstrated their Tru-Test range. And John Deere, leading manufacturers in agricultural machinery, discussed their GPS and data collection tractor technology.

Farmer Robert Neill rounded out the day by leading a trailer ride to view the arable fields and cows and calves.

Ross Robertson, Head of Mixed Farms at Agri-EPI Centre, said:

“This kind of in-person networking and collaboration is invaluable to us as an organization, as it allows us to engage with our members and farmers alike to get genuine feedback on the products we are involved with. As we all know it has been a difficult past couple of years for all businesses in the sector, and getting back on farm and meeting face-to-face at events like this will help everyone progress in what they are trying to do in benefitting the Agricultural sector”.

As a key, government-backed player in the agricultural sector, Agri-EPI Centre has been able to enlist a network of farms spread throughout the UK to participate in the Agri-EPI Farm Network.

They equipped these farms with a suite of precision sensor technologies to measure variances across every dimension of food production – quality, productivity, wastage, and more. From there, they are able to begin implementing the technologies and innovations that will change the future of farming, and assess the ways in which they can work together to bring these ideas to full commercial viability.

Kaiapoi Farm hosts Agri-EPI’s second farm walk

Agri-EPI celebrated another successful and sunny day on-farm at Kaiapoi farm on Thursday, 19th May. Farmers Rob and Jo Hodgkins led a group of our Agri-EPI community including tech developers, farmers and industry representatives on a farm tour leading discussions around transitioning to regenerative practices, inter-row hoeing, novel sheep breeding techniques and more. Marcus Travers from Soil Essentials also led a fascinating talk on soil carbon and nitrogen retention.

‘Kaiapoi’ is Maori meaning ‘food over water’. Rob and Jo Hodgkins set up Kaiapoi in 2013 with 200 ewes on 60 rented acres of grass, and have imported Romney Rams from New Zealand to create the ultimate outdoor lambing ewe for the UK climate. They have driven the business forward hard and now run 2250 ewes across 1000ac semi improved grassland and solar panels and farm 1600ac of arable crops around North Hertfordshire.

“Getting people together on farm is incredibly important to showcase first-hand the opportunities in tech development that will deliver big impact on farms” – Claire Hodge, Head of Agri-Tech (Crops) at Agri-EPI Centre

 

Tag Archive for: farm walk

Agri-EPI Farm Walk: Newton Farm

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.