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Young company making an asset from farm waste

A young company is working on a new way for farmers to make money from farm waste.Somerset-based BioFactory are developing a modular anaerobic digester which can be scaled to any size of dairy farm. The company has been working with precision engineering and innovation experts Agri-EPI Centre, to develop and refine their system with a view to bringing it to the market.Whereas anaerobic digesters – which ferment organic matter to produce biogas for heat and power generation – are well established in the industry, systems are often too costly and high-maintenance for most family farms.Agri-EPI Centre have helped BioFactory access funding, provided technical assistance, and introduced them to potential funders and advice to help them scale their product and sell it to dairy producers.Having won funding from Innovate UK and Defra for a 12-month feasibility study via the Farming Innovation Programme, BioFactory are now raising working capital to commercialise the company fully, while Agri-EPI Centre continue to provide analysis and consultancy.Charlie Bowyer, business development manager for livestock and aquaculture at Agri-EPI Centre, said: “Slurry is nutrient-rich, and returning it to the soil is a vital part of circular agriculture. Anaerobic digestion is a great way to add value to it whilst retaining nutrients, reducing GHG emissions and becoming more energy-independent.

“Digestate has long been recognised as a high-quality fertiliser, and the heat and power created from biogas can create a meaningful income for farmers or reduce their energy bills. Commercial AD systems are simply out of reach for most dairy farms due to capital and operational costs, as well as barriers such as planning permission and a changed subsidy landscape since the “AD-boom” of the early 2010s.“Working with young companies like BioFactory is Agri-EPI Centre’s bread and butter; helping them develop a good idea into a successful business and providing solutions to farmers at the same time.”

Jon Blake, chief commercial officer at BioFactory, said:

“If you’re a dairy farmer, you will always have slurry, but we can help turn it into an asset rather than a by-product. There is nothing to say that we can’t resolve farming’s impact on the environment as well. Our ethos is to build something simple and reliable for the dairy farmer. Our units are 40’-long shipping containers and easily scaled; if you want to increase your herd, you can simply add another reactor.

“We were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Our young company had been waylaid by Covid-19 when we came across a pot of funding for developing technology to help with net zero targets. Agri EPI-Centre helped us get hold of our grant and develop our product in real-life farming conditions.

“Even though the initial 12-month project has concluded, we are so pleased to continue our relationship with Charlie and his colleagues on laboratory analysis of the biodigestate, and with others at Agri-EPI Centre who are helping us with leveraging further funding and sales contracts.”

Agri-EPI’s Farm Tech Circle

Last summer Agri-EPI Centre launched the Farm Tech Circle, a new platform for farmers, growers and producers to discover and connect on topics that focus on enhancing the profitability and sustainability of agriculture.​ 
To learn more and to share this new network with members of the farming community who you think would like to be kept up to date with the latest news in agri-tech, please see below:

Farm Tech Circle

 

FTC Newsletter 1

FTC Newsletter 2

FTC Newsletter 3

Member case study: Earth Rover delivers sustainable weeding technology 

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.

Earth Rover has developed the CLAWS rover (an acronym for Concentrated Light Autonomous Weeding and Scouting), with funding from Innovate UK as part of the Farming Innovation Pathways industrial research, and in collaboration with project partners Pollybell Farms and Agri-EPI Centre. The rover uses AI and robotics to accelerate crop growth by removing weeds, including herbicide-resistant weeds, without disrupting the soil, generating a more sustainable and effective alternative to other weeding techniques in the agriculture industry.

Read the full case study here

 

Watch CLAWS video

 

 

Special interest group discusses agri robotics and automation solutions

Photo from L-R (Rebecca Lewis, David Rose, Marc Jones, Eliot Dixon) outside the Southern Crop Technology Hub. 

Agri-EPI hosted a Special interest group focussed on agricultural robotics and automation technologies at their Cranfield Innovation Hub on Tuesday, 18th January. The event brought together farmers, technology developers and academics to discuss the development of robotics and automation solutions for agriculture.

The session was led by Eliot Dixon, Head of Engineering at Agri-EPI, with panel guests Professor David Rose, Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Systems at Cranfield Environment Centre, Marc Jones, Business Director at Antobot, and Agri-EPI innovation farmer Niall Jeffrey of Bielgrange Farm.

Rebecca Lewis, New Business and Proposals Manager at Agri-EPI, also provided an update on funding opportunities linked to robotics such as ‘Farming Futures: automation and robotics, industrial research‘ from the Farming Futures R&D fund.

The special interest group was held as part of the centre’s farm research and development offering which includes a network of commercial farms for trialling and validating technology, and a farmer membership aimed at knowledge exchange, the ‘Farm Tech Circle

Rebecca said:

“The farmer input is vital when it comes to talking about developing technology, we need to hear from them about how the tech could impact their business and fit in to their current systems and what their needs are.”

Key discussion points from the session included:

  • Farm infrastructure challenges – particularly around terrain, digital capacity, energy, storage and data.
  • Labour employment and tech development – health and safety, regulation, skills, knowledge, de-skilling, re-skilling, new skills.
  • Performance and technology readiness (repair, reliability, relevance, regulations).

The session lasted over two hours with break-out sessions followed by a networking lunch. From this session we aim to start building consortia for robotics and automation solutions for agriculture. If you are interested in finding out more from this session get in touch via team@agri-epicentre.com.

Useful resources for agri robotics and automation development:

  1. Enhancing the safety and security of autonomous agricultural vehicles
  2. Farm Network
  3. Technical robotics asset
  4. Robotics and automation solution offering
  5. Funding opportunities
  6. Agri-tech Investment Advisory

Agri-EPI is a partner of choice for agri-tech developers (from start-ups through to established companies). Our aim is to help develop profitable and productive solutions to empower more sustainable farms.

Collaboration essential for successful agri-robotics

By: Eliot Dixon, Head of Engineering at Agri-EPI Centre

Robotics has several strong applications in agriculture, especially in scenarios where systems can enhance the productivity of a shrinking workforce or can offer production efficiencies to the farm. However, to be successful in these applications the systems created need be reliable, in terms of long-term physical robustness but also in the ability of their control software to handle the very wide variety of scenarios they will encounter in a farming environment. This means the robots must be both well designed and well tested to meet the needs of farmers. This includes a design which emphasises safety and reliability.

“Understanding user requirements and testing in-field is key”

Good design requires a deep understanding of the needs and requirements of farmers and their farming systems. This extends from the core values held by a farmer, such as safety, which dictate their decisions; through to very specific requirements created by the unique combination of their way of working and the land they work. If this understanding is not achieved for a farming system, then there is a very high chance that the eventual product will be unsuitable, either creating a failed product or a long development timeline to solve the deficiencies. Gaining this understanding should come through working with a wide variety of farms within the target market for the technology, not just a small handful. In many agricultural sectors this design stage is especially important due to the limited testing season and ability to iterate on the design.

Testing is also well understood to be important to creating a reliable product, and in agriculture this does require a close collaboration with farmers to ensure that the robot meets their needs. As these are complex machines, which are also often dangerous if not created with a strong safety process, the testing regime should also be rigorous enough to ensure that the system will function to the desired reliability for all the design requirements. A rigorous testing regime would usually require multiple tests for each requirement across multiple operational scenarios such as different weather conditions, soil types, dangers, failure modes, crops etc. Failure to complete this testing will certainly result in the robotic system encountering situations which it is unable to function within, which may create unfortunate repercussions for the user or manufacturer. Unfortunately, completing this massive number of tests requires a range of test facilities, some of which might be beyond the capability of a company focussing on a small range of agricultural applications.

In our 2021 hackathon we explore safety and security. Outcomes are discussed in our white paper here:

Hackathon white paper

As mentioned, good design and testing is essential to creating successful products, but this unfortunately comes with a high cost. Doing this for the wide range of complex operating scenarios in UK agriculture, as well as the short testing cycles, is driving up the cost of developing agricultural robots. There are a multitude of Agri-robotics companies in the UK creating their systems from almost the ground up, each of which are individually bearing the cost in time and money of this development. This creates barriers to adoption in terms of high costs, a limited set of operations which can be conducted by robots, or low reliability due to poor engineering, and is increasing the amount of time it takes for products to get to market. As in all development the saying “Good, Cheap, Fast. Pick two”, is very much in action here but some very pressing needs mean we must find ways to break that deadlock.

Collaboration enables future opportunities for robotic systems

The obvious solution for this deadlock is to massively increase collaboration between ag-robotics developers. This has been proposed for many years, but we are yet to see a viable solution to this. Direct collaboration is currently difficult for commercial reasons with developers competing for the same money, but also for technical reasons where it is challenging to share components between robots. Perhaps a solution for this is to build an ecosystem of adaptable, compatible, components and platforms which can be used to create a multitude of agricultural robotic systems. This ecosystem of components would also be able to be robustly tested to ensure reliability when integrated as part of a larger system. Thus, the costs of development would be increasingly shared, without any single robotics manufacturer losing income as they are all developing for specific agricultural niches. Using a set of well proven components would allow developers to focus on ensuring good understanding and design for specific problems in agriculture, while also allowing for easier integration and testing of the robots.

Robotics in agriculture is a promising field, and with the right design and testing, as well as collaboration between developers, it could be a great success. By understanding the needs and requirements of farmers and using that to create an ecosystem of components and platforms, robots can be developed which are high value, robust, reliable and safe. With the right approach, agricultural robotics could benefit farmers across the UK and worldwide. Read our robotics and automation article to understand more about how we can support you to develop a robust well tested solution through collaborative R&D today.

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

Tag Archive for: farming

Special Interest Group: Exploring the importance of soil health

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

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.