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How To Start Drilling For £8K
Clive Bailye’s seed drill of choice is his 6m John Deere 750A , which has been used exclusively for 3-4 seasons. Last year, with an increased acreage, the founder and publisher of this Direct Driller magazine thought a second seed drill was necessary. Having just the one machine was a risk and in a difficult season would mean drilling was delayed. He looked around and found a good condition Horsch CO6 tine drill advertised in Germany.
Words and pictures by Mike Donovan
After delivery he rebuilt the coulters to a narrow profile so as to reduce soil disturbance. He says the tine drill is very useful driling after straw crops such as osr and also through the straw on second crop cereals.
Buying the drill from a German farmer was not particularly complicated, and provided him with a higher spec machine than Horsh sell in the UK. The seed dart tyres are much wider, and the machine is fitted with blockage monitors as well as full width front packers and also a liquid fert application system.
A sheaf of photos were taken, and Clive then asked for some of specific parts to show wear. The deal was done at under £5,000 which Clive says is the market value of these machines which are too large for small farmers to buy. Original owners like to buy new and sell when the machine is still in good condition.
Narrow tines with wear tiles
@Clive knew he wanted to make changes, substituting the Horsch tines and coulters for something far narrower, and has ended up getting his own design of tine made, which has a wear tile made from Ferobide, far harder than tungsten. The drill is on the farm primarily for osr and 2nd crop cereals drilled into chopped straw and the 25cm spacing is okay for these crops.
Comments on Clive’s on-line forum, TFF, said the drill many not be so good with beans, as the slot is a mere 12mm wide. And in barley the spacing may well be too wide as it needs to be thick. Clive points out that the seed pipe can actually be a bit wider than 12mm as it is in the shadow of the point. It would be good to have the option of using it for beans.
Above left: The cheap CO6 is being calibrated ready for its first outing
Above right: The adapted Horsch is being filled by the home built drill logistics trailer with seed and liquid starter fert.
Getting around the German instructions
The Horsch came, of course, with a control box and instructions in German. More on-line discussion revealed that English instructions were available on the Horsch website, and another explained that Horsch was sourcing some of these parts from Agton in Canada anyway. Zealman from New Zealand explained that the button marked with callipers should be held down for around 5 seconds. The menu is where you adjust the tramline sequence, valve layout and row numbers.
Ball hitch is a continental standard and provides a positive connection between tractor and drill
The Stocks Wizard has a rotor modified for Avadex which otherwise leaks everywhere
A Stocks Wizard is on the back of the drill and used for Avadex. Here again the knowledge of actual farmers is helpful. Alistair Nelson warned that the rotor and the surrounding shroud need to be changed, and he got good advice “from Rick at Stocks”. Clive has the same setup on the 750A and says that the Avadex leaks everywhere unless the modification is made. The drill was acquired and modified in 2016 and the results have been excellent.
The machine went through the residue without many problems and having the second drill has meant more timely planting. Clive has shown that moving into No-Till is not the expensive exercise so many farmers think it might be. The total cost, after modifications which included replacing all tines and coulters, was under £8,000.
Author Mike Donovan writes: we have featured a number of home made direct drills in @Practical Farm Ideas, and are always interested in seeing more. Please contact mike editor@farmideas.co.uk or 07778877514.
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Adjuvant Solutions
The right tank-mix adjuvant can help maximise success
Vital components or expensive extras? The use of adjuvants dates back to the 70s. But despite their long heritage, adjuvants are sometimes
dismissed as “muck and magic” – regardless of the fact that the right adjuvant when used correctly, can be an incredibly beneficial partner in the crop protection programme.Tank-mix versus built-in adjuvants
As many crop protection products contain some degree of adjuvant system built-in to their formulation, you may be questioning why you should even consider adding a tankmix adjuvant to your applications. Why would you need more?
Built-in adjuvancy will no doubt help improve the coverage of your spray mix across target plants, but only tank-mix adjuvants can reduce
surface water tension on the leaf sufficiently for optimal spreading – because their application rate is based on water volume, whereas pesticides are applied rate/ha.What’s more, tank-mix adjuvants can offer way more than just improved coverage. They can provide a wide variety of benefits from stabilising and mixing your pesticides in the spray tank, to improving the targeting of your spray application and helping it to reach its intended target.
No one adjuvant can perform all the functions to the degree you might need it in every crop, but effective adjuvant components are often combined at different strengths and available in pre-packaged products for specific crop uses. The trick is to select the right adjuvant for the right situation.
Selecting the right adjuvant and getting the best results comes down to a sound understanding of how adjuvants work and what challenges specific types of products can address.
As such, spray adjuvants can largely be divided into two categories — activator adjuvants and special purpose adjuvants – each with different purposes.
Activator adjuvants
Consist of surfactants and oils. Also known as “surface acting agents,” surfactants physically change the properties of the spray solution. They can help a pesticide’s ability to emulsify in the tank, and spread and stick on the target. Oils help increase penetration through leaf cuticles and improve spreading across the leaf.
Special Purpose Adjuvants
Buffering agents, compatibility agents and anti-drift agents. Buffering agents are used to lower pH. Compatibility agents are used to help pesticide products and other components in the tank, mix thoroughly together and remain in homogenous solution. Some adjuvants may have a built-in anti-drift aid.
So how can these adjuvant functions help?
Buffering pH stabilises products in the tank
You might not realise it, but many of the crop protection products you will be applying to your fields are susceptible to alkaline hydrolysis – breakdown in high pH water. You could lose up to 50% of your pesticide’s efficacy.
Adjuvants that contain a buffering agent lower the pH of the water, preventing alkaline hydrolysis. As most spray water in England is typically alkaline, using an adjuvant that lowers pH to a pre-determined level is a good idea. This way you can create the pH that is most stable for your spray mixture so it remains stable and active in the spray tank,
and can perform to its maximum potential in the field.As a general rule of thumb, because you will likely be adding numerous products to the spray tank, it is worth keeping spray water around pH6-7 to create the most stable environment for your mixture. This can be achieved using an adjuvant such as Kantor.
Glyphosate however, is most stable at pH5 and therefore will require a specific glyphosate water conditioner such as Volta-Ego that can make the water more acidic.
Emulsifying the mix improves tank-mix compatibility
Adjuvants such as Kantor that contain a compatibility agent, aid emulsification (the mixing of two or more products that are
normally immiscible) to help reduce/eliminate physical incompatibility. They help multiple products of a tank-mix to thoroughly mix together and remain thermodynamically stable in the spray tank. With more of your pesticide active ingredients and nutrition in solution, more of it will be absorbed by your target plants in the field, instead of sat in the bottom of your spray tank/blocking nozzles.Manipulating droplet size optimises coverage
Some adjuvants contain anti-drift agents that help reduce spray drift and keep your spray mix on target. They do this by changing the viscosity of the liquid, which manipulates droplet size. Ultimately, they bind the ultrasmall droplets together, reducing the number of fine spray droplets smaller than 100 microns susceptible to drift, and reduce the number of very coarse droplets which are prone to bounce. The result is a droplet with a more uniform spray angle at the nozzle that can hit the target better.
Reducing surface tension increases coverage and retention
Adjuvants which contain surfactants or oils reduce surface tension between the spray liquid and the plant surface, so your spray solution can spread out properly. As explained earlier, this is crucial for coverage and retention to be maximised, on which contact herbicides and rotectant fungicides depend. In fact, improving coverage and retention are key requirements for most sprays you will apply if you want better weed and disease control.
Increasing penetration through leaf cuticles improves uptake
As the leaf cuticle is the biggest barrier to crop protection sprays, adjuvants that can improve penetration into the leaf, have a lot to offer. In fact, many post-emergence herbicides need an adjuvant for optimal uptake – active ingredients with high water solubility struggle to penetrate (waxy) leaf cuticles because oil and water do not mix. Active ingredients with low water solubility – most fungicides – can
permeate plant cuticles relatively easily in good conditions, but you can increase entry speed with the right adjuvant.Increasing herbicide retention in the top 5cm increases residual activity
Residual herbicides typically have a limited lifespan in the soil, and their effectiveness can diminish over time due to factors like degradation or movement. Some adjuvants like Backrow Max can help extend the residual activity of herbicides by reducing their breakdown or enhancing their binding |to soil particles. This prolongs the weed control period, reducing the need for frequent herbicide applications.
How to select the right tank-mix adjuvant
1 – Always read the pesticide label. Advice may be given that must be followed on what type of adjuvant to use/avoid.
2 – Always buy reputable products produced by a trusted manufacturer. Whilst adjuvant manufacturers may offer many of the same functions, product quality and adjuvant technology varies dramatically. Check there is data and evidence to back up any claims.
3 – Using an adjuvant is not always necessary. Think about your target, the pesticides you are applying and what they need to do and weaknesses they have. In good conditions, you may not need an adjuvant and you might therefore not see a benefit. On the other hand, there may be weaknesses in your spray preparation, application and delivery that can be improved.
4 – Although different adjuvants can perform a variety of different functions and significantly improve pesticide performance, no one adjuvant can perform every function for every situation. Make sure you have a good knowledge of the adjuvant you are using and it’s the right one for the job.
5 – Finally, do a small test on your farm. You won’t know unless you take the leap to find out.
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Tools for Sustainability
In a quest to achieve long-term sustainability, deploying a range of techniques – from precision farming to using adjuvants – is proving to be
key for one Lincolnshire grower.Over the past 13 years, Peter Cartwright has taken the arable enterprise at the Revesby Estate in Lincolnshire from a heavily tilled operation to one that is now almost exclusively based on direct drilling – as well as dramatically changing the rotation, with the aim of improving the overall sustainability of the business.
And he’s not stopping there. Having already cut insecticides from the wheat and bean crops, Peter is working with his long-standing agronomist, Richard Butler of Agrii, to seek further efficiencies. Starting with the rotation, knowing milling specification is difficult to achieve without high quantities of nitrogen, wheat is now grown mostly for feed. “Nitrogen is the biggest carbon input on the farm, so I’m keen
to reduce it,” says Peter. “Yields are heading towards 10t/ha with our feed wheat – so we’re producing a good ‘barn-filler’ without the need
for much nitrogen.”He adds that they have also put N-sensors in the ground to better understand what nitrogen is available and therefore help them to make better decisions about applications. The rest of the rotation, which spans across 1,200ha, comprises spring barley, oilseed rape, winter and spring beans, spring oats, sugar beet and cover crops. “Beans are grown for seed and the oats for milling,” explains Peter. “We also do a bit
of malting barley after late-lifted sugar beet.“Beet is a useful break crop for us, and it’s only grown on land that suits it. It also yields well – we achieved 74 t/ha in 2023.” In terms of establishment, 95% of crops are established via direct drilling, having transitioned away from a traditional ploughbased system. As well as the cost and carbon-saving benefits this has brought, Peter says it’s also advantageous for the soils, creating a more resilient structure which
improves crop production.The change in establishment techniques has proved beneficial in reducing the black-grass problem on farm too. “Being flat land, below sea level, we’ve been heavily burdened by black-grass,” explains Peter. “However, by employing cultural controls and optimising the performance of chemistry, the once hay-like fields have been brought back to manageable levels.”
Keen to achieve the highest level of control possible, the Revesby Estate is the host farm for Agrii’s mid-Lincolnshire Technology Centre
– a decision driven by Peter’s keen interest in trials and desire to understand what’s working and delivering value and what isn’t.Working with Richard, Peter has based his approach around five key steps. “No disturbance direct drilling has been the first step, followed by trials with varieties rated for their black-grass control, to help select the most vigorous options,” he explains. “We then looked at seed rates and found 450 seeds/sqm to be optimal. We did try as high as 750 seeds in spring wheat and while, yes it outcompeted the black-grass, the cost of the seed was too high.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Peter says that at 250 seeds/sqm the black-grass was “horrendous”. The fourth step of the plan involved altering drilling date. “We opted to delay the drilling of winter crops until mid-October. Now, we let the flush of black-grass come through and then spray it all off to keep weed levels to a minimum.”
The final part of the approach is herbicide choice, which includes optimising performance with an adjuvant, to help Peter
achieve near to 100% control.“As a base, we apply Liberator (flufenacet + diflufenican) and Bandur (aclonifen) at pre-emergence and top up the flufenacet
peri-emergence,” explains Peter. “The next step up is to use Luxinum Plus (cinmethylin) and Pontos (flufenacet + picolinafen), but with
everything we include Backrow Max in the mix to optimise the application itself and the performance of the application.“It also gives valuable drift reduction which extends the spray window, particularly during catchy weather. Holding the herbicide longer
in the weed germination zone is also a key driver for using Backrow Max, and combined, this all helps us deliver on those crucial percentage gains.”“It also gives valuable drift reduction which extends the spray window, particularly during catchy weather. Holding the herbicide longer in the weed germination zone is also a key driver for using Backrow Max, and combined, this all helps us deliver on those crucial percentage gains.”
Backrow Max is a specialist residual herbicide adjuvant that can be applied with pre- and peri-emergence tank mixes to maximise performance in all weather conditions. It does this by optimising herbicide droplet size and binding to clay particles in the soil, meaning that both coverage and longevity is maximised.
The drift-reducing benefits delivered by Backrow Max came into their own this autumn with Storm Babet, notes Peter. “It was a season of relentless rain and catchy weather, making it more important than ever to keep on top of the black-grass and ensure herbicides kept working in the weed zone for as long as possible.”
Looking to the future, nothing is set in stone and Peter says he isn’t one to make sudden changes. “Everything is about trialling, measuring, refining and even going back to the drawing board if needed.”
I also want to investigate the trace element side of things
with adjuvants and see if they can help optimise adhesion and
uptake. At the moment, we apply magnesium
and manganese every time we go through the
crop in season as have low magnesium soils,
so I’m keen to see what else we can do.”
One thing he is planning to do next year, however, is to use Rhiza to help look at the long-term plan to reduce inputs – mainly nutrition and crop protection. “I really want to tear up the rule book on T1 and T2 and I’m going to use Rhiza to help plan treatments based on when disease is likely to come in,” says Peter. “The hope is that we may be able to treat once and then top up the potency with an adjuvant like Kantor, for example.“I also want to investigate the trace element side of things with adjuvants and see if they can help optimise adhesion and uptake. At the moment, we apply magnesium and manganese every time we go through the crop in season as have low magnesium soils, so I’m keen to see what else we can do.”
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Back up with Backrow Max®
With residual herbicide performance at risk from unpredictable weather and challenging application conditions, incorporating an adjuvant into the mix can be a valuable tool within the IPM strategy to help optimise pre-emergence performance and minimise resistance.
Keeping weeds like black-grass at bay can feel like a never-ending battle, and with herbicide efficacy having declined over recent years, many growers have turned to cultural control options like delayed drilling, as well as alternative options like adjuvants to get the most from what chemistry they do have access to.
Among the adjuvant offerings is Interagro’s Backrow Max – a specialist residual herbicide adjuvant that can be incorporated into the pre- and peri-emergence tank-mix to maximise performance – in all conditions. “It not only enhances herbicide coverage across the soil, it also works to consistently maintain a ‘lethal dose’ of active herbicide in the weed germination zone, more effectively than any other residual herbicide adjuvant tested in the market, maximising crop safety and efficacy in adversely wet conditions,” explains Stuart Sutherland, technical manager at Interagro.
Top-performing retention in wet conditions
Research conducted by the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Poland in 2021 and 2022 showed that adjuvants vary greatly in their influence on herbicide retention, with Backrow Max securing the greatest retention in the top 5cm of the soil compared with three competitor adjuvants at their recommended rates, including one of the newer adjuvants, Adhere.
“The research was interesting because it confirms observations in the field, that even active ingredients like pendimethalin can move following heavy rainfall after application. Inclusion of Backrow Max slowed movement significantly,” explains Stuart, with an additional 8% retained in the top 5cm of the soil.
Improved crop safety
As well as better weed control, keeping herbicides in place is also beneficial from a crop and water safety perspective, adds Stuart. “Leaching research conducted in The Netherlands has previously shown that Backrow can reduce chemical leaching by >60%. Given Backrow Max offers even stronger retention in wet soils, it’s the perfect safety net for growers.”
Field trials have also demonstrated benefits in the form of reduced phytotoxicity when Backrow Max is added to the tank, both with Luximo and with Avadex Factor in trials carried out at Stow Longa looking specifically at the crop safety benefits. “Herbicides with high mobility and low adsorption to soil particles pose the biggest threat to crops and groundwater, particularly in lighter soils,” explains Stuart. “But with heavy rainfall, all herbicides have the potential to move down to the crop seed, risking plant health and establishment.”
In the Avadex Factor trial, researchers compared cultivated and non-cultivated wheat plots, with the crop purposely shallow drilled to increase the likelihood of crop damage from the active. In the non-cultivated, direct drilled trial there was 10% crop damage in the form of chlorosis where Avadex Factor was used alone. When the Backrow Max was included there was zero crop damage and an additional 29 wheat plants/sqm.
In the cultivated trial, the Avadex Factor alone was found to cause 20% damage to the crop but with the Backrow Max, this was avoided – and once again showed no evidence of chlorosis. As a result, there were an additional 11 wheat plants/ sqm.
Winning the weed war
The benefit of all of this is the valuable added efficacy to herbicide activity, meaning growers are able to improve both weed control and reduce seed return. For example, “Trials have shown 12% higher black-grass control with Octavian Met (diflufenican + flufenacet + metribuzin) plus Pontos (flufenacet + picolinafen) in winter wheat, and 4% higher with Luximo,” explains Stuart. Some of the best results have been seen when applied with Liberator plus Proclus (aclonifen).
In this trial, the Backrow Max improved blackgrass control by an impressive 22%. It has also been proven to enhance control of ryegrass
and brome in winter wheat as well as annual meadow grass in spring barley and broadleaved weeds in multiple crops. “We’ve actually found that in dry conditions – which prohibit the movement of residual herbicides into the weed zone – Backrow Max can be as effective as an inch of rain when it comes to improving pre-em performance.”With lots of growers reporting late weed flushes and higher pressures than usual this year, Stuart concludes that any tools which can be used to help keep burdens at bay are a “no brainer”. “The efficacy and options when it comes to herbicides are ever declining and it is vital to protect what we do have available.
Adjuvants play a key role in this and have the potential to make a real difference when it comes to getting the most out of chemistry.”
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Keep going with Kantor®
Challenging weather, suboptimal spraying conditions and tank-mix incompatibility can all put added pressure on spraying workload, reducing its efficacy over time. Though these stress factors are often out of the hands of growers, incorporating an adjuvant can help reduce the impact.
Getting high performance from crop protection sprays is vital in keeping yieldrobbing weeds and diseases at bay. However, there are numerous factors that can threaten this, says Stuart Sutherland, technical manager at Interagro. “The past few years have seen sprayer operators dealt a tough hand, with catchy weather windows and heavy workloads often leading to suboptimal conditions for spraying and efficacy.
“In practice, this might mean big, complex mixes in the spray tank or mixing products in cold water, which can make the operation tricky. With products often added via the induction hopper, the issue is that you may not even know there is a mixing problem until you get blocked nozzles.”
While this can be a big problem, Stuart says there is a simple solution – adding Kantor to the tank. It’s unique adjuvant properties deliver a plethora of benefits, unrivalled by any other adjuvant on the market.
A plethora of benefits
Kantor is an innovative activator and special purpose adjuvant in one, which can buffer spray water to pH 6-7, improve tank-mix compatibility, reduce spray drift, and enhance product effectiveness by increasing coverage, adhesion and penetration across plant surfaces. “In fact, it’s the only one-can adjuvant solution on the market that alleviates risk across the entire spraying operation – from tank-mixing, through to spraying and even down to action on target plants,” notes Stuart. “It’s an extremely versatile product. Kantor gives growers the flexibility for complex tank-mixing in a single pass without the risk of crop damage, can keep you spraying, and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of all products in the tank-mix, including herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, PGRs, and nutrition.
So how is this possible? Looking at its tank-mix compatibility benefits, Stuart explains that Kantor enables this through an emulsification agent in the formulation that helps vital components in the tank to mix together properly, even in cold water. Where water for spraying has high pH, there are more than three products in the spray mixture – ie multiple active ingredients – or growers are using low water volumes, product mixing becomes even more problematic.
But, adding Kantor to the spray tank before chemistry conditions the water by lowering pH and creates more optimum conditions for the tank-mix.” Aside from improving stability and compatibility in the spray tank, the improved rainfastness and drift reduction properties of Kantor can help both extend spray windows and keep crop protection where it needs to be for longer. “Kantor enables more precise and targeted applications by significantly reducing the number of <100 micron fine spray droplets which are most susceptible to drift,” explains Stuart. “Crucially, this reduces the risk of off-target damage and environmental contamination, while also providing flexibility in scheduling crop protection applications.”
Kantor also reduces the number of coarse droplets, creating a more optimal droplet size to improve deposition and adhesion to plant surfaces, he adds. “What’s more, Kantor’s ability to reduce surface tension and promote spreading results in better coverage of target plants
and leaf layers, leading to more effective treatment overall.”But it’s Kantor’s small molecular size compared to most adjuvants that provide unique penetrating power helping active ingredients get to work faster and help make it so versatile, says Stuart.
Tried, tested, trusted
Easy mixing, improved active ingredient stability
Extensive testing over the years shows adding Kantor to the spray tank before adding chemicals, speeds up the mixing process and helps traditionally incompatible mixtures to blend together. This is perfectly demonstrated by Stuart in the video, below –
Trials at Eurofins in 2022 proved Kantor’s ability to aid complex micronutrient mixtures to dissolve and remain in solution – with less flocculation and sedimentation – compared with when the mix was used alone. “This meant that plants were more likely to fully absorb the products,” says Stuart.
Keeps you spraying
Work at Silsoe Spray Applications Unit has shown Kantor reduces the number of drifty droplets, which we hear frequently from growers, is a really noticeable benefit.
Enhanced coverage benefits re-enforced at Rothamsted
The research conducted by CHAP and Rothamsted in 2023 used brilliant blue dye and videometer lab imaging to visualise the impact of Kantor on spray retention and distribution on pea and wheat leaves. The images show Kantor having the greatest positive impact on spray deposition, compared to the tracer and water control treatment.
For protectant fungicides, this brings crucial disease benefits, which we are seeing more and more of in trials as varieties break down.
Higher uptake into plants
Kantor’s ability to aid the penetration of active ingredients into plants has too been examined in various studies, including at Wageningen University where researchers used UV tracer dye to look at penetration. They found that Kantor delivered higher concentrations of crop protection to the leaf cuticle – compared with when these products were used alone – resulting in significantly higher uptake into plants.
Adjuvant benefits can sometimes be difficult to see in trials, as products are often applied in optimal conditions with knapsack sprayers.
But in this Birds Eye pea trial below, the weed control benefits from adding Kantor to Basagran were clearly obvious.
Flexibility for success
Looking at how the combined benefits affect the overall plant health picture, trials and farmer feedback show Kantor adds valuable efficacy, benefiting weed, disease and lodging control in a wide range of crops, notes Stuart.
“We invest heavily in trials every year – you can download our new Kantor booklet by scanning the QR code below to see some of the latest results. “In trials looking at septoria infection in winter wheat, Kantor has significantly reduced infection levels, compared to when fungicides
were used alone. Looking at how this stacks up financially, we’re seeing upwards of an additional £21.50/ha margin over input cost.“A similar effect was seen in oilseed rape trials, where adding Kantor was found to reduce light leaf spot infection levels, resulting in an additional £134/ha margin over input cost.”
Positive results have also been seen in reducing ramularia infection in barley and fusarium infections in winter wheat, making it a truly versatile product, says Stuart.
“With challenging seasons becoming the ‘norm’, aids like adjuvants are going to be vital for getting the most from crop protection and Kantor is the only adjuvant that helps you mitigate the risks across the entire spraying operation, giving the flexibility for success.”
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How to avoid a tank-mixing disaster
With catchy weather windows often forcing growers to put bigger, more complex mixes in the tank, careful preparation is key to avoid a disaster.
“If we look at weather we’ve seen this last year alone, it has been incredibly inclement and often left spray operators with just a day or two to get a lot done,” says Stuart Sutherland, technical manager at Interagro. “With such tight windows comes ‘larger-thanideal’ mixes – which heightens the risk of a problem. Mixing in cold water, at high pH and with hard water makes mixing troublesome.”
As well as ensuring products are compatible and best practice is followed, Stuart says a compatibility adjuvant can help overcome
some of the challenges. ‘If we take Kantor for example it contains a self-emulsifying agent that makes agricultural chemicals more compatible with each other, preventing undesirable interactions and ensuring that multiple products can be used effectively in a single application.”“Adding micronutrients into the mix can be particularly tricky, but compatibility testing has shown Kantor helps them to dissolve, alleviating flocculation and sedimentation so they can be absorbed fully by target plants.”
Stuart’s top tips for avoiding a disaster in the tank-mix:
1 – Periodically inspect agitation system for wear and tear and ensure any worn parts are replaced
2 – Ensure the sprayer is scrupulously clean before starting
3 – Half fill the spray tank with water before adding any products
4 – Maintain good agitation throughout the filling process
5 – Always mix products in the correct order – ensure product labels are referred to and always follow guidance. Carry out a jar test if you’re unsure of compatibility
6 – Add compatibility adjuvant Kantor (at rate of 0.15% v/v) if water is cold and/or adding more than three products into the tank, to help products dissolve. Kantor will buffer to optimal pH
7 – Add more water as products are added
8 – Make sure concentrates do not come in to contact with each other in the induction bowl and allow one product to completely clear the induction bowl before adding the next one
9 – Check slow to dissolve formulations like wettable powders and water dispersible granules are in solution before adding more
10 – Only mix up what you need – never leave a mixed solution in the spray tank overnight
11 – Clean the sprayer thoroughly between jobs
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Buying time with adjuvants
With high value, comes high risk, something Will Parrott knows all too well.
Springhill Farm – part of Evesham Vale Growers – in Worcestershire. The farm is home to a crop fed anaerobic digester and is the UK’s third largest grower of salad onions with a total area of production stretching upwards of 1,600ha (4,000 acres) annually. In addition, as a group, they supply almost a fifth of the total UK market for tomatoes, 52 weeks of the year – supplying both supermarkets and wholesale customers.
Cereal crops grown include maize, wheat and triticale, grown for grain and wholecrop as well as grass. “All of these crops provide feed for
our own AD plants,” explains Will. “Our teams manage the entire growing process from seed, drilling, agrochemical and digestate applications, as well as harvesting, and packing for all of the spring and salad onion varieties we sell.” “We harvest every product by hand, and we then process the onions in our purpose-built packhouse at Springhill Farm. All salad and vegetable growing is carried out within a 20-mile radius of our packhouse, helping us provide the freshest produce possible.”With such a high demand and value for the crop, careful management is required at all stages of the growth cycle to ensure maximum yield and quality crops.
Dealing with disease
Disease is a huge threat to vegetable crops, and so Will works closely with his consultant Dominic Swainson, senior agronomist at Agrii.
“Downy mildew is the biggest problem and sometimes means we can be spraying weekly for it,” explains Dominic. In terms of the programme, mancozeb and metalaxl-p in the form of Fubol Gold, is key for protection he adds, together with Amistar (azoxystrobin) and Orondis Plus (oxathiapiprolin). There are also early applications of Signum (boscalid + pyraclostrobin) employed to help with white rot, a soil borne disease of alliums.
The main risk timings are April-May and also August-September because this is when moisture and dew points on the leaf are at their highest. “Shorter days means longer time for the dew to be sat on the leaf,” says Dominic. “Irrigation in hot dry weather also runs the risk of raising humidity levels and conditions conducive for downy mildew.
Many of the fields suitable for onion growing are on lighter soils close to the rivers which also adds to the humidity. Some of our summer production is moved up to the Cotswolds to spread growing period and risk, but they also run the risk of staying damp longer in cool conditions.”
The location also impacts fungicide application, forcing Will and his team to frequently spray in less-than-ideal conditions, meaning he often needs to incorporate an adjuvant into the mix. We apply all fungicides with the adjuvant Kantor as the drift reduction and rainfastness it provides are critical to us.
“We never have time to spray in a timely fashion, spray days seem to be getting less and less as the years go by. We end up against it most of the time and Kantor buys us more time.” Kantor, from Interagro, is a highly versatile activator adjuvant which contains a compatibility agent – a self-emulsifying agent which helps products mix thoroughly together, even in cold water, and remain in solution without phase separation. “Kantor also works as an anti-drift aid and benefits coverage and retention, helping keep chemicals where they need to be,” explains Interagro’s Stuart Sutherland.
Agrii agronomist Kathryn Styan, who also works alongside Will and Dominic, adds that as well as the rainfastness benefits on the farm, Kantor helps fungicide retention on salad onions in particular. “Onions grow very upright, and the leaves are very waxy so it can be hard to get the fungicide to stick on.
But effective coverage is absolutely crucial to keep the downy mildew out, so the other major reason we use the Kantor is to help maximise coverage and adhesion to the crop.”
Battling weeds
Keeping the salad onion crop weed-free is also essential as onions are not very competitive and this is worsened by a groundsel endemic at the farm, notes Dominic. “With this in mind, we mostly use repetitive low doses of residuals with the addition of Backrow Max to protect the crop.”
Designed to enhance residual herbicide performance in challenging conditions, Backrow Max is another specialist activator adjuvant from Interagro which has been proven to reduce drift and enhance retention in the soil.
Delving further into the programme, pre and peri-emergence applications of Wing-P (dimethenamid-P + pendimethalin), Stomp Aqua (pendimethalin) and Backrow Max. This is followed by repeat low doses of Wing-P and Emerger (aclonifen) all within three weeks of
each other.As well as optimising the efficacy of the herbicides, Backrow Max brings valuable crop safety because it retains the residual herbicides in the weed germination zone – the top 5cm of the soil, explains Dominic. “Consistency of emergence is crucial so we cannot afford to knock the crop with herbicide damage, particularly if we’re irrigating in the drier conditions to aid emergence.”
Being a minor crop reliant on EAMUs, weed control is also equally challenging in the British Vale of Evesham Asparagus crop — the only asparagus of its type that can be grown in Evesham, says Will.
“We try to use a number of different residual herbicide active ingredients with different modes of action to get season long control,
as there is only one shot – pre-emergence — before the asparagus spears come up. It’s a perennial crop, in the ground for up to
10 years, so crop safety is important too.”Looking at the programme, Will says they rely on a combination of clomazone, pendimethalin, metribuzin and mesotrione, as well as Roundup Biactive (glyphosate) pre- and post-harvest. “It’s a complicated mix, being applied in the spring when the spraying water is cold, so mixing can be difficult with settling out.”
Saving solutions
The complexities and the associated challenges with this mix came to a head in spring this year. “We went to spray the field on 21 March, and nothing came out the nozzles – it was totally blocked up and we had to spend half a day cleaning out the sprayer and unblocking it, having pumped the contents into an IBC.”
Will says that they looked into the spray tank and could see that the mix had settled out, so Dominic suggested trying adding Kantor to see if it could “rescue” the chemistry. “We decided to test it by taking a couple of cans out and added approximately 200ml in to one of the containers.
“We shook it all up and Kantor totally brought the whole mix back into a homogenous solution. We left it overnight and it was still in suspension the next morning.
“So we pumped the contents of the IBC back into the spray tank with Kantor and were able to apply to the fields with no issues to the
crop. The lesson learnt was for complicated tank-mixes, always add Kantor. It saves so much time.” Extensive testing over the years has shown
that adding Kantor to the spray tank before filling speeds up the mixing process and helps difficult mixes homogenise in the tank and
stay in solution, explains Stuart.“Tank-mixing pesticides offers flexibility, saves time and may increase effectiveness, but it can be problematic. Adding any more than three products to the tank increases the risk of a mixing issue.” Of course, thorough mixing is crucial for pesticide effectiveness, he adds.
“Only active ingredients fully dissolved in water can be absorbed by plants. But mixing can be slow and tricky in cold water and some formulations can be hard to mix together, particularly at high pH and with hard water. You could be losing efficacy without even realising it.”
Therefore, adding Kantor to the tank before filling is a good insurance to avoid a mixing problem and achieve dependable crop protection performance, says Stuart. What’s more, although growers should take every precaution to avoid a tank-mixing issue, with time and effort it may be possible to recover a problematic tank-mix using Kantor, as Will proved this spring.
“Once the products have been successfully re-suspended, apply with constant agitation to avoid any further issues,” advises Stuart. With catchy weather patterns, challenging spraying conditions and crop protection weaknesses all putting pressure on the spring workload, Will says that if you can take the stress out of the operation, save yourself time and make the products mix together properly and perform as they need to then it’s a no-brainer. “Optimising the delivery of your crop protection products to where they are needed is crucial to get the most out of them,” he concludes.
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Flexibility cultivates success
In an industry where change is the only constant and resilience in the face of adversity is becoming more and more crucial to long-term sustainability, one inspiring young farmer in Darlington has found flexibility is the key to managing risk and maximising success
– with adjuvants playing a pivotal role in the strategy.Farming 240ha in Winston, Darlington quiet days are few and far between for Luke Medd. Luke farms in partnership with his father, Alan and grandfather, Brian, operating a mixed farming system consisting of arable, grassland, beef, and sheep enterprises alongside a mid-tier countryside stewardship scheme, as well as land dedicated to research and development with various field-scale trials. “It’s a proper mixed farm, where the arable, beef and sheep enterprises need to work together, and as such the cropping is extremely diverse,” says Luke.
Diverse cropping
On the arable side of things, West Whorley Hill Farm boasts a 15-crop diverse rotation including wheat, barley, rye, oilseed rape and
triticale, with herbal leys, forage and silage crops also grown to support the 400 strong Wagyu beef herd and 400 head of sheep.“Stubble turnips are grown as an overwinter cover to feed the sheep and forage crops are ensiled to fatten cattle over the winter months,” he explains. “We’re growing forage rye for the first time this year. It’s in the ground now and we’ll take it off in the spring ahead of the maize and other forage crops.”
The rye will be followed by forage maize in the spring and taken off in October, before winter wheat is sown. “As well as the feed value, the rye provides cover over the winter – I hate bare ground and I’m not keen on overwinter stubbles. Therefore, the forage rye is a great way to help improve soil structure and allows three crops in one field in one year.”
Prioritising soil health
The combination of diverse cropping and the livestock enterprises has huge soil health benefits and is an approach that Luke believes is fundamental for the sustainability of his business. “Fifty years ago it was ommonplace for sheep to be considered highly useful on arable farms. They support the rotation, help keep weeds and cereal pests at bay, and perhaps most importantly, the manure releases essential plant nutrients into the soil for the following crops.”
Over the winter months, Luke grazes the sheep on wheat and triticale – putting them on in mid-January and taking them off in March before the first fertiliser application is made. “Grazing the crop also forces additional rooting and tillering,” he adds.
Establishment trials
Soil health is also being prioritised through the approach to crop establishment with Luke part-way through a long-term trial to transition from a conventional plough-based system towards the end goal which is direct drilling of most crops. “This is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the farm – we’re demanding a lot from the soil, so I feel it’s important to repair it.”
Now into year three, one of the main focuses of the trial is to develop a greater understanding of what the soils are currently capable of and what can be done to further enhance the soils properties, explains Luke. “Organic matter levels are already very high and given the time it takes to build organic matter, its paramount that soil analysis is undertaken to allow these levels to be maintained.” To enable this analysis, Luke is working alongside his agronomist Robert Bowes and deploying Agrii’s Soil Resilience Strategy. “The electrical conductivity scanning
with Rhiza has enabled the trial to be set up in the field where there is no soil variation at all, so the only difference in the field is the cultivation type,” notes Rob.
Luke Medd, Partner, N Medd and Son, County Durham And so far, so good, says Luke. “In the first year of trials, there was little difference in winter wheat and spring barley yields when the two establishment techniques were compared. In year two, the direct drilled winter barley and winter wheat actually outyielded the conventionally sown.”
With the year three winter oilseed rape and winter rye trial now drilled, while it’s too early to make conclusions on yield, Luke has noticed huge differences in ground conditions between the two plots. “We got hit pretty hard with Storm Babet in the autumn. There’s no way we would have been able to travel on the conventional fields, but could have on the direct-drilled plots, so as well as the potential yield benefits, direct drilling is already demonstrating greater ground resilience too.”
Crop protection strategy
Getting the establishment right is just one part of the resilience puzzle and Luke says having a carefully formulated chemistry programme
which balances crop protection with strategic usage is key. Both Luke and Rob keep a careful eye on disease and base fungicide applications on the circumstances in front of them, rather than sticking to the same prescribed programme every year. And to get the best out of inputs, Luke says including an adjuvant in with the tank-mix has proven to be a beneficial addition.“Flexibility is key when it comes to crop protection, and that’s what Kantor gives us – extra flexibility when conditions challenge the performance of our programme.” Kantor is a multi-functional activator adjuvant from Interagro, designed to enhance compatibility in tank-mixes, control drift and improve both chemical coverage and penetration. It’s claimed to be the only plant protection tank-mix adjuvant with a builtin micro-emulsifying compatibility aid to ensure stability in the tank and enhances the performance of all products in the tank.
“We don’t use it everywhere, but it reduces the risk of products not working, and given the costs of inputs, it makes sense to get the most out of them,” explains Luke. Rob has been a big advocate for the use of the adjuvant. “On farm every operation is different – different sprayers, different products, different climatic conditions.
Regarding the crop protection programme, you can be as technical as you want with the best products in the tank, but if the application isn’t right, it doesn’t matter what’s in there – you’re not going to get the right result. Including adjuvant Kantor is all about mitigating the risks from external factors.”
Adding flexibility
The spring of 2023 was an example of where both disease and spray applications were tricky, adds Luke. “Conditions pointed to a high pressure septoria season, and we were conscious of varietal weaknesses in some of our varieties.
“T0 – comprising Sakura (tebuconazole, + bromuconazole), with magnesium and early season PGR – was applied on 3 April to take care of high yellow rust pressure, but come T1, the septoria pressure was high and ideally, I should have sprayed around 25 April. However, the weather didn’t come right and proved to be a huge challenge – delaying T1 by almost three weeks, meaning it didn’t go on until mid-May.
“In the end, T1 turned out to be a big mix of active ingredients and included Boogie Xpro (bixafen + prothioconazole + spiroxamine), Phoenix (folpet), magnesium and trace elements, and Adjust (CCC). As it was such a small application window, we decided to add Kantor to the tank to ensure everything would mix, work properly, and keep product on the plant by reducing drift.
“Not only does the Kantor influence the fungicides, but it also optimises the availability and uptake of the PGR and nutrition in the mix.
Even though it wasn’t windy when we did get on, the leaves were so wet. Therefore, having Kantor in there just gave us a bit of peace of
mind in terms of coverage and adhesion.”Penetrant properties
The coverage and penetrant properties of Kantor also come into their own during autumn phoma fungicide sprays and sclerotinia flowering sprays. “Oilseed rape has such a waxy leaf, which can make penetration of protection products a challenge,” explains Rob. “With phoma control it’s crucial to maximise coverage – and therefore protection – across the leaf. But autumn is a difficult timing to get optimal fungicide coverage on the leaf as it’s often wet and already waxy. This is where we’ve found Kantor to be particularly useful as it reduces surface water tension on the leaf so the fungicide coverage and protection can be maximised.”
Turning focus to spring applications and while the team usually opt for a two-spray sclerotinia programme, the weather in 2023 was “way too risky” to assume that was feasible so timed one spray with Kantor in the mix to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the application on 13 May at midflowering, adds Rob. “As a result, we saw no sclerotinia.” Testament to their success, Luke was the proud winner of the NFU’s 2023
Durham Districts Crop Competition Cereal Class – Oilseed Rape. Luke concludes that as weather patterns seen in 2023 become more the ‘norm’, using partner products like adjuvants are going to be vital.“Weather windows are tight, and that’s likely to continue so it’s crucial to reduce the risk of products not working as well as we need them to. We’re such a mixed, diverse farm that sometimes some jobs get neglected, so we need to increase product efficiency and effectiveness as there’s often such a small window for applications.
“We find ourselves constantly on the backfoot if we don’t get on at the right time, so we end up having to pile products into the tank which is not where anyone wants to be. Using an adjuvant just buys us a bit of flexibility and insurance to help keep us on the right track for success.”
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Direct Driller Issue 24 Contents
We’re changing how we manage the Claydon farm
In a political environment where farming is battling increasing headwinds, Suffolk arable farmer and inventor…
TFF Direct Drill Demo day 2025
10 years ago now in the early days of TFF we ran a trial here…
Agroforestry options
Dr David Cutress: IBERS, Aberystwyth University. Agroforestry is receiving a lot of focus for its…
The top five things to do this winter
To aid landowners and farmers with their 2025 planning, Knight Frank’s Andrew Martin and Mark…
Farmer Focus – Tim Parton
Another year, another set of problems? I can only feel at the time of writing…
Smart phosphorus management to boost yields in depleted soils
WRITTEN BY JOHN HAYWOOD – UNIUM BIOSCIENCE Standfirst: Environmental conditions play a significant role in…
Humic Substances: a background to their classification, properties, origins and uses in Agriculture.
Written by Tim Smales from Humi-Cert.com Humic substances play a vital role in a healthy…
Plan ahead to get the most from soil sampling
Soil sampling is an essential tool in understanding the nutrient availability of soils, but unless…
Farmer Focus – Billy Lewis
Dec 2024 Another tough year of compromises, setbacks and stress, all as a direct result…
Two RAGT wheats gain full UK approval on AHDB’s 2025/26 Recommended List
Breadmaking wheat RGT Goldfinch and soft wheat RGT Hexton made the list after a very…
Planning for silage success 2025 – using AgTech to fine tune decision making.
Improving quality and producing the right quantity for the animal numbers on farm takes planning…
Ecoacoustics – a new underground horizon for soil health
Following on from a farm trial undertaken by Andy Cato’s Wildfarmed farms, (as mentioned in…
Farmer Focus – John Cherry
Well, 2024 was a bit rubbish on the farm. We didn’t get all our planned…
Potato cyst nematodes (PCN): The hidden enemy of potato crops
PCN damage to potatoes Potato cyst nematodes (PCN) are a major threat to the UK…
Long-term fall in phosphate use raises concerns
The development of soil-release agents and protected forms of phosphate means growers can meet crop…
The importance of the winter decomposer cycle
Written by Mike Harrington, Managing Director of AIVA Fertiliser Following on from the beginning of…
New seed germination model devised
New research from Rothamsted Novel tool will give breeders more predictive accuracy for seed development…
Worcestershire-based family business wins industry award
Chadbury-based agricultural machinery manufacturer, Weaving Machinery, has been awarded Gold in the British and Irish…
BASE Conference 2025
Written by Chris Fellows It’s always great to be back at the BASE Conference, where…
How an arable farming system in Kent is balancing nature and financial viability
Written by Nature Friendly Farming Network Under the stewardship of award-winning farmers James and Emma…
Enhancing Carbon Sequestration Through Regenerative Agriculture
By Indigro Ltd Regenerative agriculture is proving to be a game changer in enhancing soil…
Issue 29 Contents
Found In: Inside this issue: Step or Incremental Change: A Strategic Decision Can Tech save…
Step or Incremental Change: A Strategic Decision
When many people think about technology in farming, they envisage the big step changes such…
Can Tech save Carbon from a crisis?
Tom Allen-Stevens travels forward to 2030 and looks for the farmers who would emerge strengthened…
Harnessing the power of the sun
Farming in a greener way generally involves increasing efficiencies in pursuit of the goal for…
Welcome to the first tech focussed edition of Direct Driller Magazine. From now on, issues will rotate between soils issues and tech issues.
Contents –
Old-fashioned farming with modern technology – page 4.
It’s 2030, so how have we done? – page 4.
Labour pains push robotic pickers – page 6.
Industry-leading research in robotics and automation – page 12.
Flash, crackle, pop – page 14.
Agronomist in Focus – Todd Jex – page 16.
The win-wins of regenerative agriculture – page 19.
Robots find their way into farmers fields – page 22.
Bayer and Microsoft forge a new frontier – page 26.
Robitics and perception in agriculture – page 28
What will appear at FIRA24? -30
Farmer Focus – Thomas Gent – 36
From hands-free hectare to aerial delivery – 37
Farmer Focus – Daniel Davies – 39
Catapult plans for UK agritech – 41
Shedding light on LED grow lighting – 46
Drilling down into fixed costs – 48
Farmer Focus – Simon Beddows – 50
Making methane practical – 52
Hitting rock bottom – 53
Basics best for hi-tech wine – 56
Biochar venture wins equity investment – 59
Farmer Focus – Clive Bailye – 61
Manufacturer Focus – Vaderstad – 63 -
Old-Fashioned Farming with Modern Technology
I first encountered this definition of Regenerative Farming about a year ago, and it struck a chord with me. Farmers talk (often nostalgically) about farming again like their grandfather used to, but while that is true in the approach, the method has changed massively. Technology has played a pivotal role in enabling regenerative practices to evolve on an unprecedented scale, and scientific studies have deepened our understanding of soil dynamics.
Reviewing Direct Driller Magazine over the past six years reveals a consistent blend of soil-focused content and technological advancements. Building on this foundation, we have decided to take our exploration further. Future magazine issues will alternate between technology and soils, allowing for in-depth discussions on each topic. Our approach, coupled with the launch of Groundswell in 2016, has profoundly shifted the perception of Regenerative Farming in the UK and increased its visibility throughout the supply chain. This shift is now being recognised with higher commodity prices.
In the realm of technology, our aim is to provide farmers with increased exposure to developments in the UK and around the world. This involves identifying areas for incremental advances and contemplating more extensive changes, envisioning what a modern farm might look like in the next two decades.
We often hear the assertion that “farming is changing”, but the crucial question is: changing to what? We hope that the Tech Farmer issues will assist farmers in understanding how to steer their businesses towards greater profitability and sustainability. Even if certain aspects of their farms undergo significant transformation, these changes will contribute to a more robust and adaptive agricultural sector.
Considering the constant evolution in farming practices, the average farmer in 20 years might be quite different. It prompts us to reflect on our own evolution compared with our parents and wonder whether we really anticipate farming for our children will be that different.
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It’s 2030, so how have we done?
Tom Allen-Stevens travels forward to 2030 and imagines what prospects agri-tech pioneers will have.
In just a few days it will be 2030 – for over a decade, this has been seen as something of a milestone year in farming’s journey to Net Zero.
It also seems a good point to look back on the first issue of Tech Farmer, that was launched just before Christmas 2023. What were the key issues we picked out then, and how have they developed since?
2023 was the beginnings of the Fourth Agricultural Revolution – a time at which it was first recognised (at last) that farmers are innovators as well as capable practitioners. The Basic Payment had reduced to half its original offering, and uncertainty surrounded how SFI would replace it.
No one had ever heard of ADOPT, the new Defra-funded scheme that’s now credited for helping pioneering farmers bring new research into practice. Or at least no one had heard of it until Tech Farmer became the first to announce its arrival (right there on p42 of our first issue, if you have any doubts).
Interesting too that this was announced in the same article that explored the merger of the Agri-Tech Centres and the formation of what then became the Agri-Tech Catapult. Who would have thought back then that these centres would subsequently merge with AHDB?
Robotics was the focal point of that inaugural issue, and the cover story profiled for the first time what was then the relatively unknown potential of CLAWS – Concentrated Light Autonomous Weeding and Scouting (p12). Of course, things have now moved on – it’s incredible to think how much we used to rely on glyphosate for weed control.
And do you remember those pre-emergence herbicides we used to apply with gay abandon, until weed resistance rendered them obsolete and regulators decided they’d had enough? Thank goodness for the pioneering solutions that have developed since, some of them shown at FIRA 2024 (p28).
One thing that struck me, looking back at that first issue, was Jonathan Gill’s insight into what the next ten years would bring (p35), given his experience as one of the heralds of the hands-free hectare.
“My future hope is a flock of drones performing tasks across the fields, all self-launched and tasked by an AI field manager who knows the best conditions day or night to plant or protect crops even down to a single plant,” he says. Wow – just remember, he talked of that at a time when UK regulation made such a hope unthinkable. Thank goodness policy makers took note.
To be fair, that’s one aspect that the agri-tech pioneer of 2030 can be grateful for – the foundations for agri-innovation may have been laid down by the last Tory government (remember them?), but it’s the Coalition that needed to step up to the task, and to be fair it did soon after the General Election in 2024. I certainly can’t remember as much being invested in farmer-led R&D. And its ag policy is clearly proving to be a vote winner, if the recent GE2029 landslide victory for the new Labour administration is anything to go by.
The European picture is now a similar scene of good prospects for those farmers who have grasped the technology nettle and worked to shape it to their advantage. The EU New Horizon for Agriculture Agenda, signed after the end of the Ukraine conflict, at last gave the green light across Europe for gene-edited crops, and put the emphasis squarely on productivity, as the previous Farm to Fork Strategy was quietly dropped. Analysts reckon the policy move aligns the EU much closer to the UK’s current agri-tech tract. This explains why some of the businesses we profiled in that first issue of Tech Farmer are expanding rapidly across the EU.
The global picture has been more of a rocky road, however. UK farmers may have benefited from the soya crisis of 2024, but the economic turmoil in South America that ensued has sent shock waves of uncertainty throughout the global ag industry. We’ve yet to see whether the US president can deliver in her second term of office the promises to support US Agriculture she made in her first, but the impact, in terms of agri-tech investment, is already being felt.
Nowhere was this more obvious than in the halls of Agritechnica 2029. Visitors to the show just six years earlier were treated to innovations such as New Holland’s energy-independent farm (p50) and John Deere’s Farm of the Future. The worry then was that the developments into autonomy and tech made by these global giants wouldn’t be available to UK farms, with our small roads and fields. The UK was in danger of being marginalised out of agri-innovation directed purely at the vast fields and wide, open plains of the Americas and Eastern Europe.
But many who took the treck to Hanover last month were disappointed to find such tech hadn’t moved on as much as had been promised – mutterings of ‘emperor’s new clothes’ were not uncommon. What’s now more likely, according to analysts, is that the investment needed to bring it to market melted away with the confidence in Big Ag, triggered by the soya crisis – whatever happened to the agricultural partnerships promised by the likes of Google, Amazon and Musk?
What Big Ag failed to recognise was the importance of involving farmers in developing that tech, and now those companies are paying the price. It was to represent the interests of those pioneering farmers that Tech Farmer came into being. We had seen how Direct Driller had gelled the interests of those pioneering a path in regenerative agriculture. It was time to bring those interests together with farmers from other sectors. To become a focal point for the surge of interest in agri-tech. To explore the fascinating and fast-developing realms of new tech, of AI, autonomy, of their possibilities to reshape how we farm.
But most of all it was to represent the interests of those who were resolved to shape it. To tell the stories and share the experiences of the farmers at the cutting edge of the Fourth Agricultural Revolution. Because, as we now know, this new chapter in farming’s progression belonged to you. You implemented the innovations, breathed the life and the opportunity into the new tech.
So it’s largely thanks to you that with just a decade to go, UK Ag is now well on track to deliver Net Zero – Happy Christmas and here’s to a prosperous 2030.
Tom Allen-Stevens farms 170ha in Oxfordshire and leads the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN). 
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Labour pains push robotic pickers
Labour shortages are driving fruit and veg producers to examine robotic solutions. Tech Farmer attends the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London to find out more.
Increasingly difficult to find and ever more costly. It’s little wonder that some of the UK’s most innovative farms and businesses are choosing to investigate and invest in the potential of robotics, rather than relying solely on manual labour.
“The reality is that it has become increasingly challenging to source seasonal labour in the UK,” says David Sanclement, Group chief executive officer of The Summer Berry Company.
The firm grows strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries across 200ha in the UK, including 24ha in glasshouses, and mostly raspberries on 190ha in Portugal. “Our core market is the UK, and we serve most of the major retailers, including Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and Asda. We also supply European retailers like Carrefour, Rewe and Aldi.”
With no immediate prospect of the labour market becoming easier, the business has a vision to reduce its dependence on seasonal labour. Robotics is one area it is investigating, although David stresses he doesn’t see robotics as a complete replacement for labour.
“It could be useful in a number of situations,” he explains. “Most notably, using robots to forecast and potentially to provide a night shift, which is currently not attainable for our workers.
The Summer Berry Company has 54 Tortuga AgTech robots, currently used to replace night shifts or tackle fields where labour is not available. “In the longer term, we hope the use of robotics will support our labour needs eventually meaning less seasonal workers. It would be more efficient to have a stable year-round workforce with the robots supporting at peaks of harvest.”
Another important advantage for the use of robots is through better forecasting capabilities, David adds. “This is important to us. We work with historical trends, relying on the expertise of our agronomists and weather forecasts, but with the addition of data coming from the robots we have better forecasting accuracy of when to pick.”
Improved harvest data forecasting brings a couple of advantages for the business, David says. “One, it gives us an opportunity to forecast our labour more efficiently. If you can predict very accurately when you’ll need to harvest the fruit, the difference between one week and another, you can optimise your labour in a better way.
“And two, you might achieve better returns with the supermarket. A retailer will be keen to receive information three weeks ahead rather than two days because it gives them a better opportunity to plan promotions or to plan strategically to allocate your fruit onto the shelf.”
Each machine uses advanced artificial intelligence to help with key decision making required to harvest the fruit. The Summer Berry Company trials with robotics start-up Tortuga AgTech began in 2018, with pick quality and picking speed the two most important criteria success was going to be judged on.
“This is a journey,” David says.
The business started comparing robots to the best picking performance but quickly realised it should be comparing them to the poorest picking performance. “AI and software are constantly improving, so you need to start from the bottom and progressively raise standards.”
Picking speed has also improved significantly over the past three years, although generally it is still not as good as human labour. That doesn’t matter that much with David looking at his current 54 Tortuga AgTech robots to replace night shifts or tackle fields where labour is not available.
Eric Adamson stresses that providing a harvesting service first is key as it creates immediate value for the grower. The purpose-built and designed robots are cart-sized four-wheel machines that can work either inside or outside, with two arms that operate autonomously, explains Tortuga AgTech chief executive officer and co-founder Eric Adamson.
Each machine uses advanced artificial intelligence to help with key decision making required to harvest the fruit. “The most important thing you teach a human picker on their first day is which fruit to pick and which to leave,” Eric says.
“Most of the management time after that is whether the workers are doing that right? Are they picking red ones and not the pink ones, or are they picking the pink ones that look red enough? That’s actually losing yield for the farm and it’s not as good quality for the supermarket.
“Team leaders at The Summer Berry Company focus on performance, quality and speed. We need the same focus with the robots.”
The robots run 17 machine learning models at any given time to help make those sophisticated decisions – where and how to drive, where and what to pick, and whether to pick or not. It’s also collecting a bunch of data about the crop’s growth at the same time, Eric says.
While the latter is an important add-on service, Eric stresses that providing a harvesting service first was key as it creates immediate value for the grower. “Help to solve the hardest problem first and then add the other things.”
Customer service is another key requirement. “We provide a full service to the farm,” Eric says.
That was important and a significant change, David adds. “I’ve worked with some other companies doing robotics and not all of them were able to offer service. Having a number of Tortuga members working at The Summer Berry Company makes a big difference if the robot is not working.”
Barfoots target automation
High value vegetable crops are also fundamentally labour intensive making them a logical target for automation, says Keston Williams, chief operating officer of Barfoots. But some are much easier than others to automate.
His firm grows around 3400ha of various vegetable crops in the UK. “The vast majority of the area is sweetcorn, followed by tenderstem broccoli, courgettes, asparagus and green beans.”
Like other farm businesses in vegetable and fruit production, accessing labour has become more challenging following Brexit. “I don’t see that getting any better any time soon, and it’s certainly continued to get more and more expensive, so we’re looking for solutions that allow us to reduce labour and improve efficiency.”
In some crops, such as sweetcorn and green beans a fully automated system for the crop is in place, in terms of machines for harvesting, grading and packing.
“In green beans we’ve taken it from a team of what would now be 400 people harvesting green beans to a team of 12 because it’s automated.
“But for the sustainability of growing UK premium veg crops, we need to consider how we’re going to automate the majority of our crops.”
But what makes a crop like sweetcorn relatively straightforward to automate – it’s a single destruct harvested crop – is the exact opposite for crops like courgettes and tenderstem broccoli.
“With courgettes we have to go into the field maybe as many as 25 times to harvest or graze it over a period of time. It’s not a destructive harvesting process, so therefore you need to look after the crop when you harvest. Tenderstem broccoli, rhubarb and asparagus are the same – multiple passes of the same crop.
“Secondly, you also need the dexterity that’s required to pick the crop – see the fruit, or flower in the case of tenderstem broccoli, and then pick it at the right point.”
The image processing involved in that to decide on the spot whether to harvest now or leave it for another two days to mature, or if then it will be over mature, plus then the dexterity to pick it and put it in the right container are decisions the human brain can make quickly and with great accuracy. “They’re much more difficult to replicate on a robotic basis.”
For a while Barfoots put those requirements in the too difficult to overcome box, but advances in artificial intelligence and image recognition have brought it into the realm of the possible, Keston suggests.
Keston Williams joins the panel on stage at the Agri-Tech Summit to explain that he’s looking for new solutions now that accessing labour has become more challenging following Brexit. That’s led to three projects beginning with tenderstem broccoli in 2020, then courgettes two years ago and a herd project last year with robotic company Muddy Machines using funding from UKRI and Innovate UK.
The initial project with tenderstem broccoli started by testing image recognition, Keston says. “That’s grabbing a camera, pointing it at the crop, move it around and then develop software that can recognise it. As long as you can get around and through the leaves, it doesn’t work too badly.”
The next phase was to develop a robot, or “end-effector” as Keston calls it, that can harvest the crop. This came in two parts – first Muddy Machines developed a lightweight robot platform, called Sprout. Sprout is then fitted with bespoke tools under the canopy.
“The piece of kit we designed gently pushes the leaves out of the way, and then another arm enters the crop and picks the tenderstem broccoli,” Keston says.
“We’ve developed it as a proof of concept, but we’ve reached the project’s end point where it’s proven to be difficult and slow. At the moment, the project is parked because to scale it up and make it work is going to be extraordinarily difficult.”
Courgettes are looking more promising. “We’ve got a stage where we can recognise the courgettes, and have developed a little end effector that can pick them without damaging the main plant.
“The project is reaching its conclusion now, and it is looking more exciting to take forward to the next stage of developing an initial prototype, although I would imagine there would be multiple prototypes before it comes anywhere near being commercially viable.”
Five growers, including Barfoots, are involved in the latest “herd” project. The concept is having a harvest team of one person, who controls maybe 20 harvesting robots or rovers, which coordinate harvesting of the crop from one press of a button.
Barfoots helped Muddy Machines develop its robotic harvesting platform for crops such as courgettes which require multiple passes within a picking window. “It’s about having some sort of centralised coordination of multiple robots that logically think like a harvest manager.”
While the projects are showing the challenges of automating harvesting and processing of some crops, Keston believes it is also highlighting it is achievable. But lack of investment is slowing down progress.
“As an industry, it’s being done on a shoestring. It’s not like you have a backing of a Tesla or some huge industrial process that’s shoving millions at it to get it right. These are literally garages of clever guys making stuff, and because of that I think it will take time to get there.
“But it doesn’t have to. The proof of concept shows it is possible, it’s just the development and the engineering around it that needs to accelerate quickly and that funding needs to come from somewhere.”
Unfortunately, he says the profit margins within fresh produce aren’t enough for businesses like Barfoots to fund that development, while there isn’t enough volume in the number of robots required for a machinery business to get excited.
“As a consequence it’s languishing in a horrible midfield area that doesn’t go anywhere. I don’t have the answer of how that can change unless a philanthropic entrepreneur wants to give it a go,” he concludes.
- The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit took place in London on September 26 and 27, 2023.
Asparagus harvesting tool showing promise
An asparagus harvesting tool to fit onto Muddy Machines robotic platform, Sprout, is showing potential to be the viable application that unlocks further development uses, says Chris Chavasse, founder and chief technological officer of Muddy Machines.
Muddy Machines developed Sprout as a fully electric platform, with a 16 KwH battery that can run for 12-16 hours depending on the tool inside its payload. It’s a 1.8m wide x 1.8m long 350kg platform without a tool – four easily accessible crop storage baskets hang off the back with the tools fitting under the canopy.
“It’s four-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering, and has a pivoting front axle to maintain contact with the ground,” Chris says. “It drives up to 1 metre/second so relatively slow – that’s about 5km/h, but it’s much slower than that as it has to stop and start to identify where the crop is.”
It’s currently slower than a person picking asparagus, which is the first tool that was developed to fit onto sprout. “We’ve been developing it for the past three seasons. It uses 3D cameras to identify where the crop is, machine learning to identify when we want to harvest, what’s right, what’s not and avoid all the crop that is immature and only harvest when it is right.”
Muddy Machines hopes to offer Sprout as a platform to other innovators or companies on which to develop their own tools, Chris says. “We are proving the platform is a viable solution, so we hope it gives confidence for others to use to develop their own tools so they can get those solutions to growers faster.
Chris Chavasse talks through the attributes of the Muddy Machines robotic platform Sprout to delegates at the Agri-Tech Summit. “When we started there wasn’t any suitable platform so we had to develop our own. It’s been hard so we don’t want others to have to go through that pain and slow them down.”
The machines have been developed so one person can supervise five to 10 robots, and because they are modular with capability of carrying different tools it allows maximum utilisation without large capital investments for growers.
Muddy Machines currently offers the robots on a harvest-as-a-service model, where it operates the robots and gets paid in the same way as a human worker would be, but it wants to transition to a hardware-as-a-service leasing model in future, Chris says.
“Growers would say they need the equivalent of 50 or 100 workers, we would calculate and provide the equivalent number of robots. The grower would pay us the equivalent they would pay for the workers.”
Three-Terry tech
Why have four wheels when three offer more flexibility and stability? The 250kg E-Terry from Germany can adapt to range of widths, can be set to different heights to suit crop growth stage and easily folds for transport and storage, says COO and co-founder Fabian Rösler.
Electrically driven and primarily for weed-scouting, it has a forward speed of 1.5km/h and covers 3ha on a full battery charge in eight hours. Pilot trials on five farms in Germany are set to start in the spring.
Rootwave goodbye to weeds
The first 15 commercial Rootwave machines are being delivered to vineyards and orchards over the next few months, says CEO Andrew Diprose.
Available as a 1.8m trailed machine for vineyards or 4m for orchards, a PTO-powered generator packs 10kW of power down to each of six 0.5m-wide electrodes. With a forward speed of 5km/h, the 18kHz high-frequency voltage fries any weeds they come into contact with.
Claimed to be as effective as glyphosate, two-thirds of prospective customers are conventional growers looking to move away from herbicides.
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Industry-leading Research in Robotics and Automation
Based in the Lincolnshire countryside, a 10-minute drive out of the city, the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) at the University of Lincoln, is an internationally renowned centre for industry-leading research in robotics and automation.
At its Riseholme Campus, LIAT is also home to a working farm with specialist research facilities and sector-leading expertise.
The mission of LIAT is to support and enhance the future of food and agriculture productivity, efficiency, and sustainability through research, education, and technology.
It has been a very busy year for the team, having been involved in many key Agri-tech projects.
In February, LIAT’s Reverse Coal Programme was mentioned as a positive case study in the UK Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 and highlighted as an example of how peatlands can be more responsibly managed.
The scheme is taking place at the Lapwing Estate, a 5,000-acre estate near Doncaster known for being an innovative leader in ‘rethinking peatlands’.
Peatlands are one of the most fertile lands in the UK for food growth, but the process emits excessive CO2. The alternative is Reverse Coal, which shifts to indoor farming using a sustainable biomass fuel source as its power.
The energy comes from growing biomass feed stock, which is then subjected to a thermochemical treatment (pyrolysis) to create a source of energy. The pyrolysis will also produce biochar which will then be stored in a unique storage facility demonstrating that CO2 can be permanently captured.
Reverse Coal Dr Amir Badiee is the Project Lead on behalf of the University of Lincoln.
He said: “Fossil fuels have been used for so long in food production that their negative impact cannot be understated, but this project proves that there is a better way.
“Reverse Coal sequesters carbon and produces food with positive environmental impact. This solves the inherent dilemma of bioenergy crops: the loss of land from food production.”
March saw the launch of Agri-OpenCore, an innovation to deliver an accelerated programme of robotic crop harvesting for horticulture.
Agri-OpenCore, funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ Farming Innovation Programme, has been introduced to tackle the lack of seasonal harvest labour in the UK horticulture industry. Many crops have gone unpicked this year, leading to large amounts of unnecessary waste.
LIAT at the University of Lincoln is partner in Agri-OpenCore alongside project lead APS Salads with Dogtooth Technologies Ltd, Wootzano Ltd and Xihelm Ltd.
There is currently no robotic system that can match the speed of human picking. Agri-OpenCore aims to make progress in this area by cutting the time and cost of developing a robotic harvesting system that achieves parity with human picking.
To deliver this, Agri-OpenCore will develop the world’s first open development platform for agri-robotic harvesting, with an aim to develop commercial robotic systems for tomato and strawberry harvesting that achieve human-picking-cost-parity in two years.
Also in March, LIAT became a key partner in a new project that will improve farm sustainability and profitability by using nitrogen more effectively.
From Nitrogen Use Efficiency to Farm Profitability (NUE-Profits), funded by DEFRA’s Farming Future R&D Fund: Climate Smart Farming, will aim to make the use of nitrogen as efficient as possible for farms by using data taken throughout a season.
The project will provide farmers with a management system called ‘Framework for Improving Nitrogen’ (FINE) that uses plants as sensors.
As nitrogen use and emissions are reduced, the partnership will explore new income opportunities for farmers financed by reduced carbon emissions. The aim is to make nitrogen use measurements the new benchmark for farmers to utilise nitrogen effectively to provide more profit whilst improving sustainability in farming.
The NUE-Profits project is a partnership of AgAnalyst, the University of Lincoln, Velcourt, Dales Land Net, Dyson Farming, Agreed Earth, Assimila, European Food and Farming Partnerships, N Blacker & Sons, Hill Court Farm Research and Navigate Eco Solutions.
In May, the UK Farm to Fork Summit was held at 10 Downing Street. One of the guests at the summit was Professor Simon Pearson, Director of LIAT, who was joined by 70 other attendees from around the food sector.
The Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet viewed agri-tech research displays and spoke with the exhibitors. Additional support for the food sector was announced from the Government with a focus on agri-tech, which will involve research carried out by Professor Simon Pearson and the team at LIAT.
Speaking shortly after the event, Professor Simon Pearson, Director of LIAT, said:
“The Farm to Fork Summit was a fantastic opportunity for key players in the industry to demonstrate how important the food sector will be to the future of this country.
“Rishi Sunak and Cabinet Ministers took great interest in both the agri-tech and glasshouse sectors, which will involve work from LIAT and its partners, and have pledged a significant investment to accelerate growth over the coming years.”
In September it was confirmed that LIAT would be home toa new net zero glasshouse research and development facility, set to be built on the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme campus.
This new purpose-built glasshouse, funded by the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, will offer access to specialist research infrastructure and innovation support services. This will allow SMEs and other businesses in the agricultural sector to adapt or improve their products or services.
The glasshouse will be sub-divided into independently controlled compartments, facilitating the delivery of multiple projects at the same time throughout the year.
Eligible businesses will have access to research and knowledge transfer opportunities from experts at the University of Lincoln who will support businesses within the industry to adopt new technology, implement new processes and develop new products to transition into modern, technology-enabled businesses.
Most recently, in what has been a very busy and prosperous year for LIAT, an announcement was made that the Universities of Lincoln and Cambridge had been awarded a £4.9 million grant to fund the region’s drive to become a global innovation centre for agricultural technology.
The Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire (LINCAM) region is already a major UK production centre for crop-based agriculture and the associated supply chain, leading to what is recognised as a national agri-tech cluster.
At the Universities of Lincoln and Cambridge, agri-food innovation is focused on digital technologies, including robotics and artificial intelligence, to boost productivity. Now, the hope is that the Place Based Impact Acceleration Account award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council – the main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK – will deliver a step change in activity.
Agricultural robot in a broccoli field Simon Pearson, Founding Director of LIAT, said: “The LINCAM agricultural sector supports 88,000 jobs, generates a value of £3.8 billion and farms more than 50% of the UK’s grade 1 land. However, despite this scale, there are still significant challenges and opportunities.
“Food production accounts for 24% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions, leads to significant biodiversity losses and drives challenging social issues – not least from seasonal worker influxes to rural communities. In addition, farmers are under relentless cost pressures which are eroding supply chain equity and local economies.
“These challenges are acute across the LINCAM region, but this funding award offers an opportunity to harness agri-tech to secure sustainable growth, bringing high-value and skilled jobs to the region.”
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Flash, crackle, pop
Concentrated light technology has passed proof of concept as a form of weed control and is being developed through field trials. Tech Farmer sees the Earth Rover ‘CLAWS’ in action.
By Tom Allen-Stevens
CLAWS moves forward, a little more than 0.5m, and stops. There’s a flash from under the hood which lights up the young crop of lettuce below. This is quickly followed by dozens of tiny spots of blue light and there’s a rasping, crackling sound.
You realise that the spots of light are focused on the weed seedlings around the lettuces, and each one gives up a tiny wisp of smoke as it’s momentarily lit. Then there’s the rather satisfying smell of weeds being fried to death.
“We call it concentrated light technology – it works in much the same way as sunlight being focused by a magnifying glass,” explains Earth Rover CEO James Miller from behind a pair of red safety specs. “You can do the same job with lasers, but this is far more effective, efficient and safer.
“At a distance of more than 2m, you don’t really need the safety specs – these are a precaution because the operating regulations haven’t caught up with our technology yet. If we were using direct lasers, there’d be a risk of the light bouncing off a shiny surface and causing injury.”
James Miller Developed as the LightWeeder, it’s claimed to be the world’s first eye-safe, herbicide-free, carbon neutral, commercially viable weeding system. It uses semiconductor LEDs to generate light that is then concentrated precisely onto the meristem of a weed seedling – the most sensitive area of the plant and the point at which it emerges from the soil.
By now the CLAWS rover has finished picking out the weeds and is moving on to the next section – flash, crackle, pop. While it takes a fraction of a second for each weed to be fried, the length of time it pauses over an area of soil – about 1m² – varies, depending on the weed burden.
This machine tackles up to 60 weeds in a second with its three modules of concentrated light units. These are shrouded beneath the branded hood – the heart of the patent-pending technology – and James wasn’t about to let an inquisitive journo make a closer inspection. There’s a claimed work rate of 1.5ha in an 8hr day.
“Once commercialised and fully autonomous, one 2m-wide machine will look after about 4ha in a day, depending on weed burden, passing continually over taking out the weeds as they emerge,” continues James. “There are optional solar panels, which would keep it charged up for a full day, and the battery alone would power it for about half a day from a full charge.”
Frying the weeds is just one aspect of the job done by CLAWS, which stands for Concentrated Light Autonomous Weeding and Scouting. On the front and under the hood are eight built-in cameras that detect the exact location of the crop and weed seedlings. This results in a complete data map of the crop after planting, showing the plant’s exact location, size, and any early signs of disease.
The meristem detection technology allows the robot to identify the growing point of the weed, which is the most sensitive area of the plant, and apply the precise amount of light needed to eliminate it. The CLAWS makes use of edge AI processing and can create a 3D image of the crop bed. “You can have the rover scout for the crop, the weeds or both, and have the data available on a laptop, tablet or phone for decision making in real time” he adds.
The 3D image is needed so the blue light can then be focused on exactly the right place to fry the weed. “Range of depth is critical, and currently this is something of a limitation. If the target weed sits on a ridge of soil in the bed, that can put it out of range of this prototype,” notes James.
Weed identification is continually improving – every pass allows further training of the algorithms. The final limitation is size of weed. “It can control relatively large weeds, but the power consumption can be prohibitive. So it’s most efficient and effective when the weeds are at seedling stage with the meristem exposed.”
But it is a true kill – independent trials have found the CLAWS technology is as effective as herbicides at controlling both monocotyledon and dicotyledon weeds, and concentrated light offers an improvement over chemistry where there is an element of herbicide resistance. This makes the overall effectiveness of a single pass of the Earth Rover about 60% currently, but James sees no reason why this shouldn’t improve to close to 100% as the machine trains itself and the range of depth improves.
“So far, the team has focused on getting the clever bit right. The improvements will come from refining the simple bits,” he says.
The organic challenge
The farming brain and origin of the business concept behind Earth Rover belong to James Brown, director of Pollybell Farms. He manages the 2000ha Lapwing Estate, an all-organic mixed farming business based at Little Carr Farm near Gainsborough, Lincs.
800ha of arable include 200ha of field vegetables, bringing in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and leeks, with 400ha of organic wheat and 200ha of barley. These rotate around fertility-building leys that support sheep and dairy youngstock enterprises. “We’ve moved away from a farm rotation to a field rotation, where the cropping is decided by market demand and field requirement,” notes James Brown.
But it’s the soil type that probably has most to do with how the farming system has evolved. This is Fenland, lying over sand and clay, no more than 1m above or below sea level. “Organic matter is consistently above 30%. We’re farming in compost, which means the soil is incredibly fertile and has a very high weed burden.”
The decision to go organic was made in 1997. This may have seemed odd for a business that at the time had its own agchem supply arm, but you get the feeling James Brown enjoys the bigger challenges. “1000 acres of organic are a lot harder to manage than 1000 acres of conventional agriculture. There’s no get-out-of-jail-free card, and a zero yield is perfectly possible.”
Weed control on a Fenland organic farm soon became the biggest headache, although James points out that the high organic matter tends to erode efficacy of herbicides. “Once you knock out chemistry, the only option is mechanical and that has severe limitations.”
Ploughing is used as a rotational tool, usually brought in before the vegetable crop as this is where the yield suffers most from weed competition. “We also use mechanical hoes, and have used a precision-guided model, but there are two fundamental problems with these: firstly, when conditions are wet you can’t operate it, but that’s when most weeds emerge.
“We’ve also found the action of the hoe interferes with the roots of the crop. The weeds close to the crop plants are the most important ones to control as these are competing hardest. But yield and quality take a hit from the damage to the roots.
“I came to the conclusion that the best solution for weed control didn’t exist, which is why I founded Earth Rover,” says James.
The concept behind CLAWS came about through a chance meeting he had about six years ago with Luke Robinson, a scientist with an interest in AI and robotics. “It was Luke who pointed out that lasers are power-hungry and dangerous, but he had previous experience with concentrated light technology.”
James provided the initial funding – around £200,000 – to develop the proof of concept for Earth Rover. “It was the time when the Mars Rover was very much in the news, which did provide the inspiration for some of the design, as well as the name.”
In 2021, Earth Rover and Pollybell Farms teamed up with Agri EPI and NIAB in a £750,000, 18-month industrial research project, funded by Defra under its Transforming Food Production programme, delivered by Innovate UK. “This took the idea from concept to prototype. We also carried out the efficacy trials of the technology with NIAB and developed what the service would actually look like – we carried out interviews with other farmers.
The venture now has the backing of Mercia Asset management, and has developed the concept into two prototype units. There’s a team of eight, including Tomàs Pieras, Chief Technology Officer, who has developed the robotics and AI weed detection. “Earth Rover also has an R&D facility in Spain where we have been further developing CLAWS.”
The plan is to build the fleet up to a total of five units and run trials on a series of Pioneer farms in 2024. “We put a call out earlier this year, and the places are now all filled, but we’re always looking for more triallist farmers. The aim is for 2025 to be our first commercial season. So we’ll be selling the unit with a service and maintenance package,” explains James.
“The way I see it, up to this point farmers have just had two options for weed control – chemical and mechanical. We’ve now added a third – thermal.”
What is Concentrated Light Technology?
Ancient civilisations are known to have focused the power of the sun through concave reflection or refracted through glass to light fires for cooking and heating. The technology has seen considerable advances in recent years with the increase in renewable, solar power.
The essence of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) lies in capturing and focusing sunlight to either generate electricity or to enhance the performance of solar arrays. Unlike traditional solar photovoltaic (PV) systems that convert sunlight directly into electricity, CSP focuses sunlight onto a receiver, which then converts the concentrated solar energy into heat. This heat can be used to generate electricity through a steam turbine or stored for later use in thermal energy storage systems.
The concept of focusing light to produce intense heat at a point has been used over millennia to focus solar rays, and has applications in renewable energy, medicine, cutting and engraving. A similar effect is achieved by focusing light-emitting diodes (LED) into a small focal spot. Applications include medicine, cutting and engraving. LEDs inherently emit light under defined angles of radiation, minimizing divergence losses compared to conventional lighting systems that radiate light all around. This means the light can be intensely concentrated producing very high temperatures at the focal point.
The lure of lasers
US startup Carbon Robotics, based in Seattle, has introduced its LaserWeeder implement that fits to a three-point hitch. The 6m wide unit features 30 industrial carbon dioxide lasers, more than three times the number on its original self-driving autonomous LaserWeeder. This gives it a claimed output of about 0.8ha per hour.
The trailed unit draws its power from the tractor, identifies weeds and targets them for elimination. Lasers use thermal energy to destroy the meristem of the weed without damaging nearby crops or disturbing the soil.
The Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder features 30 industrial carbon dioxide lasers and has a claimed output of about 0.8ha per hour. Carbon Robotics says growers who use the implements are seeing up to 80% savings in weed management costs, with a break-even period of 2-3 years. It can eliminate up to 5000 weeds per minute, identifying 99% of weeds. The LaserWeeder can operate on over 40 crops and create and deploy new deep-learning crop models within 24 to 48 hours.
The company raised $30M in series C funding earlier this year, and has units active across 17 US states and three Canadian provinces.
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Agronomist in Focus – Todd Jex
GENERATIONAL POINTERS
Agrii agronomist Todd Jex gets a steer from his grandfather on how he’s putting new
tech into practice.I really enjoy talking to the older farming generation about farming systems and the challenges they faced during their careers. My 92-year-old grandfather is often particularly keen to point out that many of the ‘fashionable’ and talked about practices are far from new. A few years ago, he came along to a winter conference at which I was presenting field scale trial results and observations on a long term regen farming system. At the end I was expecting him to remind me that diverse longer rotations, maintaining green cover and livestock integration were features of his farming system more than 50 years ago. Instead, he remarked in disbelief at how technology has developed.
I’ve been working as an agronomist for twelve and a half years which, in the context of grandfathers farming career, is the blink of an eye, but the rate of change from a technological point of view has been quite staggering. Back in 2011 precision farming was still in its infancy. We debated electroconductivity scanning versus grid sampling to establish our soil type-based sampling zones.
We’d then build variable rate P, K, Mg and lime plans as appropriate. At this stage software programs were still primitive and at times both time consuming and frustrating in equal measure. Trying to extract and use accurate yield mapping data from the combine was an annual dual. As VR capability in machinery became more affordable and widespread growth in VR drilling and N applications became the norm with the results being positive and clear, especially in oilseed rape.
Working for Agrii I have access to the Contour digital platform, and the change and improvement from its predecessor is stark. Uploading yield maps is now fast and easy, regardless of manufacturer.
This web-based platform allows myself and my customers to have access quickly and easily to:
• Soil type clay/silt/sand content
• Variable rate (VR) planning and mapping
• NDVI satellite imagery
• Uploading and viewing yield maps
• Nutrient Management Planning, NVZ and compliance
• Past, current and trend change in soil test results
• BYDV Tsum calculation
• Disease modelling and forecasting
• Soil temperature and localised weather data
In the past six years monitoring, measuring, and managing soil health has become one of the key cornerstones of agronomy for me. Collecting accurate physical, chemical, and biological data is important but measuring how the practices we implement influence these factors is vital. I use the app to geotag soil pit and data collection points and store the information collected within the Contour platform.
We’re also looking at how reliable live data from soil probes in the ground will be and how that can be used as a monitoring tool. With the existing SFI options, plus future options on the horizon, and developing carbon markets there should be an increased emphasis on collecting accurate and meaningful baseline data.
The next step will be using technology to help us collect and record baseline data from a farmland biodiversity point of view. I now use Contour to support field walking. The NDVI satellite imagery is incredibly good at guiding and targeting field walking. It’s a very regular occurrence to find that late winter/early spring high NDVI areas correlate directly to patches of grassweeds. It can then be helpful to use this to draw a polygon, whilst in the field, around the grassweed areas to monitor or to mark for rouging/spraying off. This is a salient point, and a reminder that ground truthing satellite imagery before producing a VR fertiliser plan is vital.
For the last 6/7 years I’ve been using a drone. It started with a DJI Phantom and I flew this myself to support a more targeted approach to particular issues. Generally, this would be to create drainage maps, identify slug areas, or for correlating yield maps with compaction or bird damage in oilseed rape.
Operator inadequacies and battery life were the limiting factors along with the weather, which I’ve tried very hard to avoid mentioning!
In more recent years I’ve swapped to a Mavic drone and I’m using the Skippy Scout (SS) software. This has been a game changer. No longer is the drone stuck in a tree or upside down somewhere in a flowering oilseed rape field. The SS system allows me to get on with walking whilst the drone collects an overall ‘sphere’ of the field and then autonomously travels to pre-determined, user set, scouting points across the field to take pictures from a height of 2m. This is a useful perspective and addition to field walking; the range of data being collected is much broader and far more detailed than what was possible before.From a VR N point of view, it’s been very helpful for collecting GAIs in oilseed rape when persistent cloud cover has limited the effectiveness of satellite NDVI imagery. The ability to bring in and use the SS data in the Contour platform will be an important next step, currently being worked upon.
There are some other useful updates coming in Contour including, SFI map layers and integration of the long-standing Maximising Arable Performance (MAP Group) benchmarking system.
The use of precision tools to apply inputs in a more targeted approach is a key piece in the quest to reduce the use of synthetic inputs. The technology exists, and I’ve no doubt, we are not many years away from broad acre adoption of VR glyphosate, herbicides, PGRs and even fungicides. I’ve promised my grandfather a ride round once it’s a reality on a customer’s farm.
It feels like farming is going through one of its more rapid periods of change. The phasing out of BPS, financial difficulties, market volatility and the pressure to make farming systems more sustainable and resilient. They say that adversity always brings with it opportunities, and I’m sure this will make for an exciting future in the farming industry. It will be fascinating to see where we are in another decade’s times when you consider the current speed of growth and capability in technology. I’m certain technology and data analysis will play a leading role in
solving many of the challenges we face as well as helping the progression and wider adoption of regenerative farming systems.
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The win-wins of Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture has experienced a sharp rise from a niche concept to a commonplace strategy across the UK agricultural sector. It holds promise as a win-win strategy to address net zero and long-term farm productivity.
Centred around improving and revitalising soil health, regenerative agriculture can be defined as any form of farming, which at the same time benefits the environment.
Regenerative agriculture’s loose definition offers farms the freedom to interpret it as most appropriate to their system, encouraging widespread uptake across a diverse range of farm businesses. The rapid growth of Groundswell, the UK’s annual festival of regenerative farming, illustrates the momentum behind this movement.
The prospect of cutting inputs and costs, against a backdrop of volatility in feed, fuel and fertiliser markets, is appealing to most farms. When also considering the need for businesses to adapt to the restructuring of the farming subsidies and to reverse declining soil carbon stocks, it is clear to see the major role regenerative agriculture could play for years to come.
It is shaped by a set of five core principles which cover a range of holistic land management practices. By embracing the following principles farms can begin to regenerate their soils:
- Minimise soil disturbance
A large proportion of regenerative agriculture focuses on the key principle underpinning a healthy ecosystem, the soil. Soil is the foundation of the ecosystem and without it, plants cannot grow, and animals cannot be sustained. Minimising soil disturbance, and ultimately soil degradation, can be achieved through reduced tillage agriculture, which lessens the amount of carbon released from the disturbed soil, and allows for the regeneration of organic matter below the topsoil. The connectivity of the agroecosystem is affected by soil disturbance and tillage. Consistent soil disturbance affects water infiltration as well as the movement of gases, nutrients and water within the soil and roots through soil pore networks. Soils with poor structure limit the interaction between organisms within the soil and fungal networks, all contributing to healthy functioning soils[1]. Under regenerative models, as soils increase in fertility their water holding capacity also increases, thereby increasing the natural, biological productivity of the land and encouraging species growth. Allowing for the soil to regenerate, with minimal disturbance from conventional cultivations, facilitates the organic matter in the soil to contribute towards the growth of crops on the surface. This enables a reduced reliance on artificial fertilisers to improve the fertility of the soil and leads to an overall improvement in the condition of the land. 1
2) Maximise crop biodiversity
Establishing and maintaining as much plant diversity as possible creates a good environment within the soil for maximisation of the microbial population. In the absence of diversity, through continuous cultivation of the same crop species, imbalance develops within the soil leading to reliance on artificial fertilisers to provide specific nutrients. This leads to reduced soil organic matter, degradation of soil structure and soil biology. A greater diversity in crops creates greater root depth diversity within the soil, allowing for more organic matter to be left in the soil once these plants die off. Companion cropping and intercropping, as well as diverse main crop rotations, are methods to increase diversity within an arable crop during rotations, delivering benefits including pest reduction, weed suppression and increased nutrient accessibility and uptake of nitrogen and phosphate. As a result, improvements in crop yield and crop resilience will lead to long term benefits to overall soil health and less reliance on artificial fertilisers1.
Stephen Briggs, Whitehall Farm, Farcet, Cambridgeshire – Picture Tim Scrivener 07850 303986 scrivphoto@btinternet.com ….covering agriculture in the UK…. 3) Keep the soil covered
There are a number of benefits to covering the soils with cover crops, cash crops or with a mulch of crop residue. These practices protect the soils beneath to a variety of threats; wind and water erosion, compaction and weed growth whilst maintaining evaporation rates and soil temperatures. Exposed soil is at risk from water and wind erosion, therefore keeping it covered all year round minimises the risk of damaging the soil. The estimated annual costs of soil degradation in England and Wales total between £0.9–1.4 billion[2].
Cover cropping can be both short-term and long-term options for the soil, acting as a shield and covering the soil surface. The extended period of growing is also often described as ‘solar powered soil building’ due to the physical, chemical and biological benefits derived from the crop capitalising on the sun’s energy through photosynthesis. Short-term cover crop mixes include faster growing species, such as radish, mustard, buckwheat and linseed. Over-winter mixes are longer term options which include winter rye, spring oats and stubble turnips as some examples. Mulching can be achieved with natural or synthetic materials but natural materials on farm are most common. Leaves, plant residues, grass clippings, hay and straw are examples of mulch, acting as a source of carbon and nitrogen as they breakdown on the surface[3].
4) Maintain living roots year-round
The presence of plants and active roots within the soil is key to optimal soil health and structure, as they provide the energy for the biological processes within the soil. The absence of plants causes carbon to be released, as carbon dioxide, via respiration due to the soil biota metabolising the soil organic matter. This would have otherwise been used as energy for the root and plant growth. Plant and soil biology share a close relationship, centred around plant roots where a host of organic substances are excreted by the plants. Mycorrhizae are a particular type of fungi connecting plant roots, growing in smaller soil pores enabling them to acquire and pass on nutrients, particularly phosphorus, at a quicker diffusion rate through the soil. Considering integrating cover crops directly after harvest is one way to ensure active roots are kept within the soils. This is when the soils would otherwise be left bare for over four weeks and as a result beneficial microbial populations start to decline rapidly. Living roots provide the constant energy source for nutrient cycling, soil fertility and maintenance of soil structure. Cover crops also increase access of nutrients to micropores which most arable crops are unable to reach, increasing the availability of ‘free’ nutrients within the soil. This contributes to increased nutrient cycling within the soil and nutrients in crop-available form. The presence of living roots in the soil also helps reduce the risk of leaching, particularly during winter months. Residual nutrients, particularly nitrogen, are held in the soil before being made available to the next crop in the ground. Maintaining ground cover and retaining living roots in the soil using plant species with vigorous and active rooting systems enables farmers to manage soil structure using biological systems, particularly with cover crops that can use complimentary but different rooting properties. Using this as a primary form of management then enables application of mechanical amendments to the soil structure only when necessary.
5) Integration of livestock
One strategy to complement regenerative principles is to integrate livestock on to farms. Some arable farms have not had livestock for many years, resulting in a loss of soil organic matter and reduction in the range of perennial crop species. This form of land management through the introduction of grass leys and pastures, gives the land longer rest periods in order to regenerate and recover whilst building soil fertility and improving the microbial diversity of the soils through grazing and organic manure application. This acts as a cornerstone for the other four principles in providing cover and living roots through a diverse species of plants whilst limiting mechanisation and inputs. Integrating livestock also offers greater resilience to businesses by spreading financial risks over different enterprises.
Rotational and mob grazing bring a number of benefits to soil health, grass growth and diversity of plant species[4] . Mob grazing highlights the importance of rest periods for the grass, allowing the soil more time to recover. As a result, soil health improves, cattle are healthier and there is a reduced need for inputs. The system also allows for a reduction in the time animals are housed which contributes to reduced costs. The greater rest periods also allow for plants to grow taller, leading to a larger and more complex root system leaving more organic matter when the plants die off.
There are several win-win outcomes associated with regenerative agriculture, with the evidence base rapidly growing. Applying these five principles undoubtedly provides an array of environmental and social benefits, including reduced emissions, increased biodiversity and enhanced public goods, whilst also boosting farm financial performance.
Recent findings from a research partnership between the Allerton Project, NIAB and Syngenta have associated UK regenerative agriculture with higher farm profitability.
The project offers independent scientific evidence of up to 36% increase in net profit versus a conventional plough-based arable system, despite a slight drop in yield. This is alongside consistent improvements in carbon footprint, earthworm number and soil carbon.
Regenerative agriculture is not only good for farmers, it also delivers clear win-win contributions to the agricultural sector’s shared goals of progressing towards net zero targets and reversing nature decline.
Visit lloydsbank.com/sustainable-agriculture-insight to find out more.
Lloyds Bank plc. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under Registration Number 119278.
While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure that the information in this article is accurate, no liability is accepted by Lloyds Bank plc for any loss or damage caused to any person relying on any statement or omission in this article. This article is produced for information only and should not be relied on as offering advice for any set of circumstances and specific advice should always be sought in each situation.
[1] Ritz, K. 5 Principles of Regenerative Agriculture. 2021.
[2] Graves, A.R., Deeks, M.L.K., Rickson, R.J., Kibblewhite, M.G., Harris, J.A., Farewell, T.S., and Truckle, I. The total cost of soil degradation in England and Wales. Ecological Economics, Vol 119, pg 399–413. 2015.
[3] Davis, M.T. Mulching – Keeping Soils Covered. University of Hampshire. 2021.
[4] AHDB. Mob Grazing – what’s it all about? N.D.
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Robots find their way into farmers fields
Autonomous farm vehicles have moved beyond development projects and prototypes into full commercial production and sale. Tech Farmer assesses the main offerings for the UK farmer.
By Martin Rickatson and Tom Allen-Stevens
Not long ago, autonomous or robotic agricultural vehicles, particularly those for fieldwork, were the stuff of prototype areas on stands at big international shows, or demo zones at field events. The question of market-readiness was something many manufacturers seemed to stall when asked.
Over the past couple of years, though, there has been a shortening of the time to market quoted for such machines from ‘soon’ to ‘now’. From conventionally-engined autonomous vehicles to solar-powered robots, there are a number of units now working on UK farms, particularly those growing precision-sown crops, where the regularity of plant spacings lends itself to automation of field tasks.
From their power sources to the way they put that power to the ground, and the implements they can work with, different products lend themselves to different cropping systems. And while initial autonomous field vehicle developments were targeted chiefly at establishing and weeding precision-drilled row crops, there are now machines available capable of combinable crop land preparation and other tasks.
With skilled staff hard to find and repetitive tasks lending themselves to automation, the attraction of high daily workrates with 24-hour working all stack up in favour of autonomous vehicles. Here are the key options of machines now available which are creeping their way on to UK farms.
Agrointelli Robotti
One of the first machines sold to a UK farm was a Robotti 150D unit from Danish manufacturer Agrointelli, supplied and supported by its UK agent, West Midlands-based Autonomous Agri Solutions.
With two Kubota 75hp diesel engines, one powers the hydrostatic wheel motors and the hydraulics, and the other the PTO. A total fuel capacity of 220 litres is reckoned sufficient for approximately 24 hours’ operation. The Robotti is autonomously controlled with 2.5cm repeatable accuracy by RTK GPS via an onboard computer terminal, to which can be loaded a pre-programmed planned field route map.
The new version of the Agrointelli Robotti requires only a single engine, thanks primarily to hydraulic system upgrades. Tom Beach, who founded Autonomous Agri Systems with fellow ex-Harper Adams University graduate Jack Wyatt, says Agrointelli’s design deliberately blends concepts with which most farmers will be familiar – such as diesel power and conventional hydraulics – with key autonomous technology principles.
“One of the key tasks for which the machine is suited is continuous light inter-row cultivation of row crops to keep weeds at bay, providing a broader window of opportunity during potentially short spells of good weather,” says Tom.
“By moving surface soil in the early stage of weed growth with guaranteed precision, weeds can be uprooted early before they can affect the crop, and the machine’s light weight means multiple, frequent passes can be made where necessary with little land impact.”
Mapping a field and logging the weeding plan into the software takes a matter of minutes, explains Tom.
“The online Robotti portal provides owners with real-time updates of machine progress, fuel data and images from its cameras, while text alerts notify of any issue with operation, and of job completion.”
Agrointelli has now developed a new Robotti design, the LR, which features a number of updates, says Tom.
“Most significant is a move from twin engines to a single 75hp powerplant, made possible through the development of an updated hydraulic system. This has helped boost fuel capacity to 310 litres, providing up to 60 hours’ run-time, good for around 90ha of weeding, depending on circumstances.
“Retaining conventional engine power means farmers know and understand its maintenance and management, whereas electric power, for example, would require specialist knowledge and support, and batteries don’t offer this sort of run-time or capability. But with regard to emissions and CO₂ neutrality, it is fully biodiesel-compatible.
“There is a full PTO and a 1200kg three-point linkage, and Agrointelli is building partnerships with implement firms including Stanhay Webb, Kverneland, Pöttinger and the German company Kult Kress, although any conventional implement is compatible within reason. Plans are also afoot to extend the machine’s weed control capabilities to include electrical and laser-based systems, for targeted control of larger weeds without soil disturbance. Precision-sown row crops remain its forte, though, and we have worked with Sentry in particular to illustrate the Robotti’s capabilities to carry out the full suite of sowing, hoeing and band-spraying operations through the sugar beet season, for example.”
Interested parties are able to purchase directly from Autonomous Agri Solutions, with finance offered, says Tom.
“However, we have also now developed a model that offers robot as a service (RAAS) as an alternative, for those preferring to rent a machine at a price/ha depending on planned operations and usage level.
“List price of a Robotti LR is around £175,000, or approximately £200,000 with a full suite of equipment including precision drill and weeder suiting an annual 200ha workload. However, we have developed a £35,000/year rental model, a cost that can ultimately be offset at a £25,000 annual reduction against a purchase price, as an option for those who want initially to work out how a Robotti will fit their system before buying.”
Opico FarmDroid
Marketed in the UK by Opico since early 2022, with 16 units now on UK farms, is the Danish designed and built FarmDroid FD20. It was conceived in 2011 on Jens Warming’s family farm, targeting a simpler, cheaper way of inter-row weeding sugar beet.
Joined subsequently by his brother Kristian, and by specialist robotics engineer Esben Østergaard, the three developed an autonomous machine for seeding and subsequent weeding of row crops. This revolved around the principle that by using ultra-high precision RTK placement of seed, recorded placement data could then be used to subsequently weed not just between plant rows, but also between plants in each row, without the need for camera systems. A further principle was harnessing solar energy for propulsion, reckoned to be practical given the relatively low energy requirement of such a machine.
Imported into the UK by Opico, the FarmDroid FD20 uses solar power stored in batteries as its sole source of energy. The first production version was shown at Agritechnica 2019, and 12 machines were working on Danish farms by 2020, with an updated model developed by that autumn. Power comes from four solar panels charging two lithium batteries. Two further spare batteries can be charged remotely if required, although charging takes place during daylight operation whatever the light level. 24-hour operation is possible from battery storage of solar-generated power, although dull days can halve this and an optional additional power pack is recommended. Should it run out of power during darkness, the machine simply begins moving again when the sun rises and the solar panels again become active. A rain sensor stops the machine or notifies the user’s app if a certain amount is detected.
Propulsion is via a 400W electric motor on each wheel, and operation is therefore fuel and emission-free, and CO₂-neutral. Farmdroid points out this will particularly aid farmers whose produce buyers are pressuring them to fulfil environmental demands along with crop supply contracts. Electric motors also engage and power the seeding and weeding units.
Steering is via drive motors on the front wheels, which work constantly at different forward speeds to keep the machine running straight. There is a single wheel at the rear, although Opico reports a four-wheel option has become increasingly popular, and early three-wheel models can now also be converted.
The 3.0m FarmDroid can be equipped with four, six or eight precision drill and inter/intra-row cultivation element sets, both developed and manufactured in-house. Although cameras aren’t required for guidance, one unit provides the person monitoring the machine via FarmDroid’s smartphone app with an anytime view of its activity, which also provides operating data and any error message alerts.
“If we can seed, it we can weed it,” says Eddie Pedersen, FarmDroid’s sales manager, pictured left with Opico MD James Woolway. Weighing 900kg without attachments, the machine is transported between fields by tractor, and because it operates at less than 1.0 km/hr (working speeds can be set from 450-950m/hr), and is fully equipped with safety stop and smartphone app alert features should it come into close proximity with an object or person, it isn’t subject to any further safety legislation during operation. Farmdroid suggests that, where practical/required, it can be left in the field for the season to make repeated passes, and calculates that despite its sedate pace it has a 6.0ha/24hr potential workrate.
The FD20 is guided around the field perimeter to record the corner points, thereafter setting a geofence from this to recognise the field boundary and set the headlands. In addition, any obstacles, the number of headland bouts and the seed spacing are set at this point. From this, the machine calculates the best working path plan. FarmDroid’s own RTK system works to a repeatable 0.8cm accuracy, using front- and rear-mounted machine-mounted antennas. These communicate with a farm-installed fixed base station which must be within 10km of the field, enabling the FarmDroid to work within 5mm of each seedling between the rows and 20mm in the row.
“If we can seed it, we can weed it,” says Eddie Pedersen, FarmDroid’s sales manager.
“For drilling, once the field parameters are set, it’s simply a matter of programming in the required plant density and spacing, and setting off the machine. Roller disc pairs are followed by a furrow opener that creates a V-shaped slot. The individual six-litre seed hoppers each supply an electrically-driven seed motor. These feed individual seeding discs, with a range of interchangeable units 3D-printed in-house. There are different hole diameters, disc thicknesses and disc diameter.
“The machine remembers where each seed has been placed within a variation of 0.8cm. Once drilling is complete the tool units can be changed over – the seeding units simply flip up and the weeding ones drop down. The FarmDroid can then be set for pre-emergence ‘blind’ weeding soon after drilling, and for repeated passes at intervals in the weeks afterwards. While the weeding wires passively remove weeds between rows, separate active weeding knives interject between each plant, based on the known seed positions.
Harvey Sherwin, Opico’s FarmDroid product manager, says weeding is best done in relatively dry conditions that will cause uprooted weeds to desiccate and die.
“The passive inter-row hoes are constantly engaged with the soil, and when the machine is set up the row width is fixed,” he explains.
“Conversely, the active intra-row hoeing, with the knives moving in and out between plants, can be altered down to 10cm spacing, according to crop type and stage. While vegetable and root crops remain the system’s forte, trials with Bayer are assessing FarmDroid’s capability to establish and early-weed oilseed rape.”
Beyond zero fuel cost and low maintenance, a key advantage of solar power is that the machine’s zero emissions could help growers meet carbon obligations, points out Harvey.
The cost of a four-row FarmDroid is around £70,000, with additional rows at approx £4000 each and about £6000 required for the necessary high-accuracy RTK base station. Opico suggests those costs could be recouped in two years through reductions in labour, herbicide and other machinery costs.
AgXeed AgBot
The AgBot tractors from Dutch firm AgXeed are for those seeking something to automate heavier draft tasks requiring high traction. In England and Wales, tracked and wheeled autonomous AgBots are available from ASC Autonomy, part of precision farming firm AS Communications, while Soil Essentials looks after other UK areas. Andrew Williams, who works alongside AS founder Will Mumford, says the units can be purchased for around £70-85,000 depending on specification.
“The AgBot models, particularly the tracked versions, suit a broader range of tasks than some other autonomous tractor options, and outright purchase suits the needs of most farmers we talk to,” suggests Andrew.
AgXeed offers three- and four-wheeled autonomous tractors, but promotes this 156hp tracked version as its primary arable offering. While there’s a three-wheeled design largely aimed at orchard and horticultural rowcrop work, it is the four-wheeled and particularly the twin-tracked AgBot versions that primarily suit arable field tasks.
The four-wheeled 2.055 W4 is powered by a 75hp four-cylinder Deutz engine with 170-litre diesel capacity. An electric drivetrain provides a 0-13.5km/hr speed range, plus optional electric PTO and 55kW/700V electric implement power connection.
Implement operation is more conventionally overseen by an 85 l/min hydraulic system operating at 210 bar with optional load-sensing, feeding up to three double-acting remote valves, a 4.0t rear linkage and 1.5t front hitch.
“Electric drive motors provide the most efficient and controllable transfer of power, but in all other aspects these are essentially standard tractors without cabs,” explains Andrew.
Key differences on the twin-tracked AgBot T2 include more than double the power output, with 156hp available, and a doubling of both front and rear hitch capacities. Available track widths span 300-910mm, and track spacing can be adjusted between 1800-3000mm or 1800-3200mm, depending on chassis and track type specified.
ASC Autonomy suggests two or three AgXeed tracked tractors could replace one large conventional tracklayer. As with other manufacturers’ autonomous tractor developments, work planning, monitoring and control is via an internet portal and app, and tasks can be pre-planned on a PC. A full suite of sensors ensure the safety of the machine and anything around it.
“We are working with all options to get machines onto farm, including direct sales where possible, working with a finance company for finance and leasing agreements, and are looking at hire ideas.
“With three years’ warranty and servicing, a T2 tracked machine costs around £320,000. It’s a challenge to change mindsets, but with the AgBot T2 tracked machine’s capabilities, we see scope for some farmers to consider changing a large tracked tractor for perhaps a trio of T2 units, overcoming labour challenges and boosting productivity.”
Weed-mapping robot set to microspray
It’s been a year of ups and downs for the Small Robot Company (SRC), the British agritech start-up part-owned by farmers, with farmers also helping develop the technology. Its autonomous Tom scouting robot now has the ability to detect and map blackgrass in a wheat crop. The company has also taken its PerPlant concept forward, developing the ability to microspray for pests and diseases.
SRC’s Tom scouting robot is now on version 4, with a more rigid boom, an upgrade to its eight cameras and a modular design. Rather than buy the robot, the company is developing Farming as a Service (FaaS) whereby a ‘pod’ is set up to service a number of local growers, who sign up to a fixed number of visits over the season.
A pilot version of this ran during the 2022/23 cropping season with twelve farmers around its base in Wiltshire. Each committed 20ha to the trial and received four visits: before crop emergence (detecting green on brown), mid-tillering, post-vernalisation in February and before the canopy closed in around April.
While the service delivers plant density information, it’s the weed detection on a per-plant basis that may have more value. During the season, the SRC team developed a detection model for early stage grassweeds, claimed to perform well against an expert agronomist.
SRC says it is the “only company in the world” capable of detecting and mapping grassweeds. The service gives farmers the ability to accurately track blackgrass populations, and the data can feed into a sprayer with individual nozzle or section control to deliver herbicide savings. While few growers would rely on the service to spot spray grassweeds, it can be used to focus application of more expensive herbicide stacks, according to the pilot farmers.
The Tom scouting robot itself is now on version 4, with a more rigid boom, an upgrade to its eight cameras and a modular design. This platform makes it a more robust and flexible tool to carry payloads and complete various actions in the field. Along with scouting, Tomv4 is designed to carry out micro-spraying or non-chemical weeding, making it ready to take the next step to precision application.
SRC has also developed its Wilma AI system, providing field-scale actionable insights at a per-plant level and allowing spray technology to be optimised to reduce chemicals. This PerPlant data enables farms to transition to regenerative practices safely and profitably, says the company.
Working with partners, SRC has just completed a collaborative two-year project with funding from Innovate UK to develop a prototype for robotic microspraying for pests and diseases. The design of sprayers, and algorithms for pest detection was led by Strathclyde University, while SRC provided the robotic hardware and integrated the algorithms into its Wilma AI system. Agri-EPI aided the analysis, development, and optimisation of data collection.
With the sprayer boom design set for completion this year, the robotic platform is poised for commercial field trials, according to SRC CEO Ben Scott-Robinson. “Microspraying could be game-changing for the industry. Pressure is increasing from regulators, leaving farmers short of options. Precision spraying could enable a new generation of spot-treatment chemicals, reduce costs, and significantly reduce the impact on biodiversity.”
Commercial roll-out of SRC’s services suffered a setback earlier this year when a potential investor pulled out, leaving the company dangerously close to having to call in receivers. A crowd-funding campaign successfully raised £1.6M and SRC has reached heads of terms with another backer.
The company is looking to set up franchise agreements with partners to roll out the pods, with the first franchise expected to be trialled in September 2024. Full commercial rollout is set to get underway in the 2024/25 cropping season.
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Bayer and Microsoft forge a new frontier in agricultural connectivity
Seamless data exchange in agriculture is the focus for the two corporate giants, according to content and exhibits on show in November at Agritechnica in Hanover.
Bayer unveiled at Agritechnica the latest developments in its strategic collaboration with Microsoft. The alliance aims to address the longstanding challenge of data interoperability in farming by introducing innovative data connectors. These connectors facilitate the secure and compliant exchange of farm data between Bayer’s flagship digital farming product, Climate FieldView, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through Microsoft’s Azure Data Manager for Agriculture.
Fieldview OEM device Jeremy Williams, Head of Climate LLC and Digital Farming at Bayer’s Crop Science Division, emphasises the transformative nature of evolving technology in agriculture. “Agricultural data is nothing new, but technology has evolved tremendously, and so should the ways farmers are able to collect, share, and benefit from the data they generate on the farm,” he states.
The introduction of Bayer AgPowered Services on the Microsoft Azure platform earlier this year paved the way for further advancements. Leaf Agriculture (not UK Leaf) which you can read about more here – www.withleaf.io/products/field-operations/ leveraging Sonata Software’s capabilities, now offers a solution to enhance accessibility to farm machinery data. Simultaneously, OneSoil is introducing new solutions for in-season crop identification.
Jeremyhighlights the significance of this collaboration. “Our industry can now rally around an infrastructure, data connectors, and readymade capabilities that can further deliver on the potential of digital farming solutions and the value we can bring to customers.”
The lack of data interoperability has been a persistent challenge in agriculture. While on-farm platforms have made strides in connecting data, the ability to extend these connections to services beyond the farm has been limited. The collaboration between Bayer and Microsoft addresses this gap.
Bayer claims its data connectors for OEMs represent a significant leap forward in improving farmer and industry connectivity. In addition to FieldView connectivity, Bayer, in collaboration with Sonata Software, is developing AgPowered Services that enable machine data connectivity with leading OEMs like Stara, Topcon, and Trimble. This integration aims to create a seamless and compliant connection to key data sources for farm machinery data, reducing the technical investment required by companies.
Moreover, the collaboration extends to include additional data sources, such as weather and imagery, providing companies with a unified platform for comprehensive insights. The introduction of AgPowered Services, such as the Bayer Farm Machinery Decoder powered by Leaf Agriculture, addresses the challenge of diverse data formats. orking with consistent data in a single format to unlock new value from existing data, is key, says Leaf.
Another notable addition to the platform is Bayer In-Season Crop Identification powered by OneSoil. This service leverages remote sensing capabilities to detect key cash crops like corn and soybean during the growing season across North America, South America, and Europe. The applications of this technology span from verification for carbon platforms to government subsidy programs for sustainable farming practices, demonstrating the vast potential it holds for the agricultural value chain.
The collaboration between Bayer and Microsoft is not only addressing current challenges but also preparing for the future. Microsoft’s end-to-end analytics platform, Fabric, provides a unified foundation for data and analytics tools. Satish Thomas, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Industry Clouds, highlights the platform’s support for greater interoperability and its ability to ingest data from disparate sources, offering a single AI-powered analytics platform for agriculture-specific scenarios.
“The AgPowered Services from Bayer, combined with Azure Data Manager, are positioned as ready-to-use capabilities for a broad spectrum of businesses and organisations, from startups to global enterprises,” he says. “This collaboration empowers companies to harness cloud infrastructure and core capabilities to build digital tools that support favourable agronomic outcomes or provide valuable insights into nutrients, sustainability, and production practices.”
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Robotics and perception in agriculture: smart farming getting smarter
The National Robotarium has been set up to help bring to the field the UK’s inherent R&D expertise in robotics, Associate Professor Dr. Fernando Auat Cheein sets out its plans.
Agricultural processes worldwide are experiencing fundamental changes motivated by different technology revolutions. Examples include the improvement of connectivity resources (such as 5G or 6G) and the Internet of Things with its inherent capability of connecting devices, such machines, into existing process. In this scenario, we see farming practices changing and adopting different (not necessarily new) technological resources that go beyond the precision agriculture as known no more than 10 years ago. We can find drones acquiring data through specific cameras and generating maps; electrical tractors decreasing the carbon footprint and being able to be connected to the grid; robots manipulating, pruning, moving assets; digital platforms for data handling, data management and for enhancement of the decision-making process, among many other examples.
Such technology jargon is motivated by the fact that processes must be greener if we want a healthier soil, a more efficient production, a more profitable industry, or to decrease chemical applications, among many other expectations. What’s more, in most developed countries (and many third world countries as well) we are experiencing a lack of human labour force, which is ironic considering that world population is increasing. This situation represents an ever-present challenge.
One initiative this has spawned is the National Robotarium. This is a partnership between Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh which combines Heriot-Watt’s engineering heritage and strengths in robotics for hazardous environments, manufacturing, healthcare, and human-robot interaction with the University of Edinburgh’s expertise in space, construction, and humanoid robotics. The National Robotarium facilities are based on the Heriot-Watt University campus, in Edinburgh. And within the National Robotarium and the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS), we are starting the Field Robotics Group, focused on robotics and perception for agricultural purposes.
Figure 1- The National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh campus.
I started the Field Robotics Group when I joined the EPS, UK and the National Robotarium, as associate professor. . The group gathers several PhD students (from UK, Chile and Italy) under Fernando’s supervision, as well as several master students, and colleagues from the HWU. The mission of the group is to consolidate a task force to offer Scottish and UK farmers specific solutions to specific problems in the agricultural sector. The group is supported by the strong collaboration network we’ve created over the past decade, which includes researchers and institutions from UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, USA, Latin America (Brazil, Chile and Argentina) and most recently, Greece, China and Turkey.
The Field Robotics Group is currently tackling the following themes, in which their projects are associated with:
Plant phenotyping and characterisation. Using recent advances on artificial intelligence and sensor technology, we are currently able to monitor a crop’s water footprint, detect and classify weeds, computationally model crop canopy, detect disease (especially on tomato plants but this extendsto other crops), and more than 24 vegetation indices that provide health information regarding the crop.
Our work is limited to gathering and processing information, and offers farmers guidelines on how to proceed, but the decision remains on the farmer’s side. A clear example is what we are doing to species monitoring, in which we classify the different species, automatically. We can retrieve the moisture content, height and width of the canopy, the leaf area index, both from drones and from the ground. One of the most important outcomes of our applications is that right now we can predict the amount to be harvested with an error less than 10% on different crops, including apples, avocados, lemons, cherries, grapes, and others. To this end, we use low-cost sensors connected to our algorithms (usually most applications regarding harvesting estimation use cameras from mobile phones). We have validated our work in Spain, California, and Chile, and we are currently exploring partners to apply our knowledge in the UK.
Apple detection and harvesting estimation, a joint work developed with Spanish institutions, using low-cost sensors.
Cherry detection, size classification and counting, work developed in Chile.
Robotics solutions and deployment. One of the fundamental parts of our work is the study, design, and implementation of new robotic solutions for the farming process. There may come a point in the future when robots will be able to do everything on the farm. But right now, they are limited to specific tasks, such as pruning, irrigation, herbicide and fertiliser management, fruit manipulation and interaction with field workers.
Right now, in our group we are facing the micro-fertilisation problem: spraying at a leaf level, and not the entire canopy, thus protecting the plant and the soil. To do this, we are currently designing a new robotic solution that could work under the UK farming weather and according to our regulations and certifications. Although the system is still being developed, we are confident that our solution will highly benefit farmers.
We are also starting a new line of research and development, purely based on improving the potato harvesting and potato plant monitoring, using ground technology. Although we are focusing our efforts on autonomous machinery, autonomy is not yet ready, worldwide, from an energy management point of view: when using electrically powered machinery, their performance is stillbelow that of combustion engines. So we are continuing our research line in improving the power consumption of electrical machinery in the agricultural context.
To achieve that, we are using commercial vehicles for proposing new energy prediction strategies: the power autonomy as provided by the manufacturer changes according to the weather and environment conditions, including the type of terrain, and our work is focused on a more realistic, efficient approach. Our field results so far have shown that we are able to predict the energy consumption up to 30% more accurately than when using the manufacturer’s specifications, and therefore farmers can plan their activities with more realistic costs and data. Our findings can be extended to any kind of electric vehicle.
Vehicle used for modeling the energy consumption in electric vehicles.
Technology surveillance. Our commitment as a group is to be prepared to the UK farmers needs. As part of our’s work at the National Robotarium, the Field Robotics Group is constantly seeking for new solutions and evaluating the feasibility of existing ones. Farmers and agricultural industries are welcome to engage with us in such activities. One of our main goals is to be able to provide recommendations to specific needs.
The new agricultural initiatives at the National Robotarium open opportunities to farmers and to the agricultural industry and there is an invitation to approach, since problems need to come from the farmers side, from the sector that seeks innovation.
Dr. Fernando Auat Cheein is an Associate Professor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, UK National Robotarium, Edinburgh Centre for Robotics School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. He has published more than 100 journal articles, several conference papers and applied (and granted) several patents. He is the author of two books and editor of another two. He is associate editor of Computers in Electronics in Agriculture, Biosystems Engineering (both Q1 journals in the field), Robotica-Cambridge, Journal of Field Robotics and IEEE OJ on Intelligent Transportation Systems. He is also technical editor of ASME/IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics and IEEE Senior Member since 2021. His graduates are academics or researchers in several universities around the world, including University of Lincoln (UK), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), UC Davis (USA) and several universities from Chile and Ecuador. His innovation interests are: robotics/mechatronics and perception in agriculture, electrically powered machinery, automated process, fruit packaging and manipulation, crop monitoring. (f.auat@hw.ac.uk)
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What will appear at FIRA?
FIRA is the global event for Agricultural Robots in Action, held from February 6-8, 2024 in Toulouse, France. Tech Farmer will be partnering with the event to bring you all the latest robotic content.
If you have the merest interest in the latest innovations in advanced robots or yearn to see autonomous machines in operation, then it’s worth attending World FIRA 2024.
With five real-world demo zones that put robots in real-life conditions in different crops – vines, orchards, vegetables, field crops – FIRA lays claim as the largest agricultural robot playground in the world where you get to be the first to get a sneak peek at what agriculture of the future has in store for us.
Attend more than 20 robot demos, from prototypes to commercially available robots. From weeding to spreading fertiliser, including harvesting, picking and sowing, automation is in the spotlight, whether for large crops, vegetables, orchards, vineyards, market gardening or livestock! Here we’ve picked out some highlights that’ll appeal to the in-field automation pioneer.
Aigro Up – Aigro UP has an agriculture robot that assists you with weeding and mowing. It focuses on tasks that are realistic to automate, but highly time consuming right now.
The robotic vehicle is a narrow machine, so it can navigate to orchards easily. In addition, the robot uses sensors which allow for continuous motion across terrains that would need other vehicles to stop and operate only in specific locations on their route. It achieves this not through relying solely on RTK GPS, but by making use of a set of smart sensors.
Aigro UP is an electrical power robot that can run up to 10 hours on a single charge and has two swappable battery packs, allowing a full day’s operation without any hassle or inconvenience. We believe the price of the Aigro robot is between €25.000 and €30.000, depending on the options.
K.U.L.T.iSelect – This is a robotic hoe claiming the highest precision in the row and between the plants.
It brings precise single-plant detection, high processing precision and tool depth guidance through automatic exact parallel guidance of the entire machine to the soil surface.
There’s a user-friendly and intuitive terminal, which allows easy machine monitoring and adjustment from the tractor cab. Hydraulic and electric power supply comes from the tractor with very low power requirements.
Modular design allows for individual operational needs. Also available as a multi-section version, for three- or two-step processing in one pass.
Afara – Based in Turkey, Afara has developed an autonomous cotton-picking robot, which collects cotton spilled on the ground after harvest. Afara-Cotton uses image-processing electronic-mechanical systems.
Afara also produces two other systems: Afara-Sprayer is an autonomous agricultural robot claimed to efficiently perform operations such as fertilisation, irrigation, spraying, etc., according to the location of the plant with image processing. Afara-Terminator is an autonomous agricultural robot compatible with organic farming that detects and destroys weeds with image processing.
Weta Robot – Weta is an autonomous all-terrain platform designed for use in agriculture and forestry. It can be loaded with tools and packs for autonomous surveillance, inspection, pulverisation, pruning, land clearing, and harvesting. This EV comes packed with radar, lidar, communication systems, articulated axles, and low-impact tyres to ensure ease of movement in complex terrains such as the terraced vineyard slopes of Portugal’s Douro region, where it was developed.
Odd Bot – Odd Bot promises to bring farmers of high-density crops the future in smart and sustainable precision weeding. The company claims its mechanical weed removal robot provides a higher yield with less manual labour, reducing and eventually eliminating the need to use any chemical herbicides.
The unit removes weeds at an early stage through autonomous mechanical in-row weeding, allowing crops more space to grow, which in turn improves yield, say its makers. 100% organic, the robot does not use any chemicals and does not damage the crops. It’s also on demand , so you decide when the weeding needs to take place, and Od Bot takes care of the rest.
Robot One V2023 – Pixel Farming Robotics’ Robot One is equipped with 14 depth-sensing cameras and dual GPS antennas, making it suited for large-scale and biodiverse environments.
Robot One is claimed to help farmers transition to regenerative farming, easing establishment of cover crops and reduced tillage with specialised tools.
All electric, solar panels are mounted on the roof and power Robot One autonomously through the fields, charging the battery while driving. The electric drivetrain and lightweight construction enable Robot One to handle the various agricultural terrains.
Robotti – Agronintelli’s Robotti is an autonomous, versatile field robot designed to be integrated into many everyday jobs in the fields, in horticulture and in tree nurseries or similar areas with row or bed crops. It is diesel powered, uses a standard three point linkage so it can be fitted with standard farm implements.
There are two models of Robotti – 150D and LR. The two Robotti models differ in the number of engines, availability of a PTO drive, lifting power and tank volume capacity and thus in the autonomous range.
The three-point hitch makes the Robotti an implement carrier designed for a wide variety of implements. The typical tasks are sowing, planting, hoeing, spraying and light tillage. The working speed is adjustable and allows autonomous continuous operations of up to 20 hours for the 150D and up to 60 hours for the LR.
For more on the Robotti, see the article on pxx
Trektor – Sitia claims its Trektor is the first hybrid robot for agriculture. It can work on different crops – viticulture for both narrow and wide rows vineyards, market gardening, vegetable field crops and arboriculture – and performs many repetitive tasks, such as soil cultivation, spraying and hoeing.
Trektor can change its width (wheelbase) or height (adjustable ground clearance) to adapt to the crop.It’s also compatible with existing implements, thanks to a standard three-point linkage (cat. 2) and points of attachment behind and between the wheels.
Arow Box – Arow Box is a high-tech component of Ullmanna’s Decimal platform designed for precision weed control in agriculture. Using artificial intelligence and machine vision, Arow Box identifies and targets crops in real-time, providing a chemical-free, environmentally friendly solution for weed control.
It’s an intra-row weeding system that includes features such as visual odometry, innovative lighting for cameras, and depth sensors claimed to ensure optimal operation even under challenging field conditions. The unit spots crop plants in real time and its makers have set out to achieve the fastest intra-row hoeing operation available. The Arow Box forms the hardware backbone of the Decimal platform, while the software services are offered to end users, typically farmers, on a SaaS model.
RoboCut360 – this tool from Leger Innovation helps arborists manage their orchard without any use of pesticides and with a limited number of staff. It’s a self-propelled and self-driving vehicle equipped with the EcoCut360 head which prunes the suckers from around the base of fruit trees. A weeding head as well as a mulcher can be mounted on the tool holder in order to weed the soil between the trees and in the aisle.
Robotic Perception – This autonomous electric vehicle from Isreal is a sprayer, mower and crop monitor for vineyards. It scans the crop, analyses irrigation requirement and checks for virus stress.
Slopehelper – Designed for a challenging terrain, this robotic low-voltage electric agrosystem automates routine tasks in vineyards. Place it at the beginning of a passage between rows in the field and use the six-button interface to program the left and right row numbers and the number of rows (or entire field) for operation; then press the start button. The TeroAIR application on your smartphone will keep you informed in real time about the entire progress of the operation and any events that occur during the process.
Slopehelper operates without GNSS navigation (satellites), and it’s independent of weather conditions, allowing your agrocycle operations to run continuously, say the bot’s maker.
Oscar – French robotics company Osiris Agriculture have designed Oscar as a complete, season-long irrigation service. Oscar will stay in the field, surveys your irrigation needs day after day to deposit exactly the dose of water the plant needs. Osiris claims the bot gathers Its knowledge of the plot thanks to artificial intelligence and modulates its action according to local needs.
Crover Grain Storage Management – The Crover robot swims through bulk solids and powders such as cereal grains and pulses stored in sheds and warehouses. This maps the condition of the grain with a higher resolution and data points density than a static solutions, says its makers, and at a lower cost per measurement location compared to sites with 20+ static sensors.
Crover stirs the grain bulk, helping prevent and break crust, arching and ratholing. Collecting samples at depth within the bulk, the data collected by the Crover robot can be either downloaded locally, fed into existing digital systems, or visualised via its companion web app. Claimed to be the first device in the world able to move omni-directionally in granular bulks, the Crover robot is also a platform that enables different technologies, be it sensors, sampling modules or pest control agents to reach areas of the bulk that they couldn’t otherwise.
Alpha – Those for whom the now ubiquitous drone simply doesn’t cut it will be drawn to Alpha’s newest fuel-powered helicopter UAV. Built STANAG-compliant to target maritime security requirements, it boasts a longer flight time – up to four hours endurance – a 4kg payload capacity and four Payload Bays.
Traxx – Exxact Robotics calls Traxx a pragmatic and sustainable technical solution for farmers and winegrowers. Traxx straddle the vine for autonomous tillage and spraying applications in narrow vineyards. A powerful unit, it treads lightly for minimal soil compaction, and achieves the spray quality and precision to accurately apply biocontrol products. Traxx puts the same precision and regularity into its soil work, says Exxact, with recognized and reliable tools.
SoftiRover – Softivert is developing the SoftiRover e-K18 agricultural robot, intended for large-scale cultivation. This French company, specialising in precision agriculture, launched the autonomous project two years ago internally, with its own funds.
YV01 – Designed for European winemakers, Yanmar has developed the YV01 as an autonomous sprayer. The YV01 treads lightly, keeping compaction to a minimum while the robot can go up and down slopes of up to 45%, while its straddle design suits narrow vine spacing.
At the heart of the YV01 is electrostatic spray technology claimed to reach all surfaces of the vine efficiently and economically with spray applications, whether exposed or hidden.
Pats-X – This bat-like drone moves through glasshouses and indoor units, targets moths and terminates them mid-flight. This prevents damage to crops and reduces the need for spraying rounds. This automated solution will be available for all kinds of greenhouse crops such as high-wire vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants.
Orio – This is Naïo Technologies’ high-precision weeding robot. Orio will work in your fields with accuracy thanks to its guidance system based on RTK GPS signal. Designed for row crops and beds of vegetables, the bot works on lettuce, onions, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, leeks, cauliflower, various herbs (garlic, cilandro, mint, etc) among others. Orio is also suitable for arable crops, large growers and contractors, looking for greater autonomy and precision, says Naïo. Easy to set up, this tool-carrier can be used for seeding, cultivating, weeding and collecting data.
Jo – Naïo Technologies designed this autonomous crawler for narrow vines. Jo has 10 years’ experience in guidance systems and follows its lines with accuracy and reliability, says Naïo. Fully electric, two 3000W, 48V motors allow you to use a range of tools.
Ted – Again from Naïo Technologies, Ted is Jo’s larger brother, dedicated to vineyards, and offers an alternative to the use of herbicides. Ted provides precise mechanical weeding, with an 8-hours per day autonomy. Its universal mounting frame offers the possibility to adapt various tools.
Oz – Completing Naïo Technologies’ family is its compact Oz robot. This farming assistant for time-consuming and arduous tasks has caught on in 48 countries where Oz can already be found. It works autonomously or obediently follows you around. A multifunctional robot it carries brushes, seeders, hoes, ridger, leaf bumper or Torsion springs.
Pathfinder – with Pathfinder, maker Bluewhite has combined hardware and software into what it calls a single end-to-end platform for fleet and data management. This allows you to run all farm operations autonomously from anywhere. The spray, disc, mow, and other operations work with any existing tractor. Pathfinder’s smart implement integration and control will operate all year round and takes account of any condition for any crop to operate safely. It does this through Lidar as well as cameras and different sensors that guide its navigation. You can also retain the ability to drive the tractor manually when needed.
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Farmer Focus – Thomas Gent
How I think I can achieve scalable no till organic farming
Nov 2023
In my opinion the Holy Grail of farming is to find a way both to use no till drilling methods and achieve a conventional farm level of yield with no artificial inputs. One sunny summer evening, this was something I was discussing with my dad and contemplating if it were even possible.
One idea is to use cover crops to fix nitrogen and then crimp them to be able to plant the next cash crop. The problem with this of course is you can’t crimp blackgrass and you can’t rely on being able to drill a good cover crop straight after harvest as the dry summer of last year taught us all. The other problem with all rotational cropping is the minimal amount of time the roots are in the ground and therefore the effect they can have in turn on the soil is limited.
The ideal we discussed would be to have a constant understorey of clover that would act both as a nitrogen fixing cover crop when there was no cash crop growing and, if you could get it to grow thick enough, a weed-suppressing layer. The tricky and costly thing is to get a clover established well. Once you have done that you then need to plant your wheat crop into the growing clover crop and somehow control the clover so that the wheat crop can flourish. So I chimed in with a random idea about robot lawn mowers – surely we could get one of them and just run it through the wheat crop and it would mow the clover, effectively strip cropping.
Roll on about 6 months later and we are delighted to be working closely with Listt.io and Kristof Hayes. They are a team looking to bring practical, simple and usable robotic solutions on farm. As I write this I have just been notified by DHL that our robotic platform coming in from California will arrive this week, the first one to be delivered to Europe. We are planning to fit several different implements to the robot platform and test its capabilities.
Having been at Agritechnica I have to say I was slightly underwhelmed by the lack of really good innovation in the robotics sector. Everyone seems to be either over complicating it, making giant (expensive) tractor-sized robots or stuck in the research phase. There is a concern in my mind that there are large scale robotics being developed that will bring huge revolutions to large agro holdings with hundreds of thousands of hectares to farm. This will I am sure revolutionise how commodity food crops are produced and bring great strides in cost reduction and quality increases. However they will be unusable here in the UK making our scale of farming even less competitive globally.
From my admittedly limited experience and knowledge it does seem however that there is an opportunity for UK farmers to do what we do best – test robotic systems out in the field, let them get dirty, and find ways to bodge them together to make them work. If we can find simple and practical applications for robotics this will be very useful for farming. Robotics need not be something only available to universities and large corporate farms. I can already see a future where they are out on my farm performing a huge range of tasks in a simple, uncomplicated way.
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From Hands-Free Hectare to aerial delivery
10 years after starting a project that delivered a fully autonomously managed crop, Jonathan Gill looks forward to what the next ten years may bring.
I have spent 20 years working with robotics in a professional capacity and have seen massive benefits with machines being programmed to perform the dull, dirty, dangerous tasks that we do not want to do.
Ten years ago, while working at Harper Adams University I discussed many times that automated agricultural machinery would be in our fields by now. That led to being the co-creator of the Hands-Free Hectare, a pioneering project to show the capabilities of automation in farming where we were the world’s first to grow a crop from start to finish with autonomous machines.
After completing the first year of the Hands-Free Hectare I had the opportunity and honour to be awarded a Nuffield farming scholarship where I travelled the world asking the question to universities, companies and individuals “How do we embrace automation in agriculture?” (You can find my report on the Nuffield farming scholarships website https://www.nuffieldscholar.org/)
Four years on from presenting my report I have not been disappointed. In my home county Shropshire, there are over five farms using the solar powered Farmdroid to precision plant and weed their crops.
There are challenges still with automation regarding safety concerns and the ability of machines used for farming to be left to their own devices without a human in the loop. Investment into automation in agriculture is a huge business. However, it’s still not easy combining the information of multiple sensors and cameras to make real time decisions. Therefore, machines in agriculture classified to achieve true level 5 autonomy are still few and expensive. In my opinion the next 10 years will be the birth of true automation in agriculture.
I’m still constantly surprised by the ingenuity and innovation in farming and this creativity should not be lost to programmers who may not be talking to a skilled but ageing workforce. I expect to see tractors not looking like tractors, machines without cabs and electric powertrains working in our fields. The operations of these field robots now being made by smart implements rather than the vehicle, and these decisions made on the local soil and crop conditions etc.
The gateway to robotics and automation in agriculture is drones. Let’s not forget they are now commonplace. These are after all autonomous robots which are simple, affordable and reliable and are in use by many farmers and landowners. Not only do they have cameras for their ‘eye in the sky’ enabling crop inspection but have enhanced features such as AI-enhanced obstacle detection and return home functionality. However, their uses are still being realised with the larger spray drones coming popular due to their affordability and versatility for additionally being able to deploy seed.
I have seen so many benefits for drone-based crop protection globally from Brazil to Indonesia in fields and trees, and watched the tech-savvy older farmers using drones to protect their crops from their mobile phone to great advantage. However, the UK’s prohibitive regulations are preventing agrochemicals being applied to crops and thus holding us back from developing pioneering applications.
Unfortunately, with drones I’m seeing history repeat itself as seen with tractors increasing in size for work capacity where they had to have a single driver. The legality of only allowing one operator to fly one drone at any moment has led to current models made by DJI and XAG now weighing in excess of 80Kg where they used to be sub 25Kg, three times the weight and double the size.
While they are definitely able to perform field tasks at higher work rates, they are now producing the negative effect of increased downforce that can flatten crops. Additionally, it makes these drones harder to carry, store and transfer to the field. Lessons learned from swarming operations like those seen with drone displays seen at major world events such as the Olympics and Kings Coronation are not being transferred across to our industry, as could be with smaller drones in flocks performing tasks in cooperation.
My future hope is a flock of drones performing tasks across the fields, all self-launched and tasked by a AI field manager which knows the best conditions day or night to plant or protect crops even down to a single plant.
With the advancement of drone technologies there may be opportunities to plant seeds in a completely different way. We are very familiar with our modern farming methods that require big machines to place seeds at the correct depth in our soils. I see inspiring developments to technology and agriculture in all corners of the world and one potential is the nature inspired air dropped E-Seed. This is packaged into a compostable carrier planting itself, with all the fertilisers and mycorrhiza fungi to establish successfully.
“The seed of these plants is carried inside a thin, tightly wound stalk. During rain or high humidity, the corkscrew-like stalk unwinds and twists the seed into the soil, where it can take root and is safe from hungry birds and harsh environmental conditions.” https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/february/engineered-magic-wooden-seed-carriers-mimic-the-behavior-of-self-burying-seeds
When I was asked to write this article, I spoke to Justin Gong, senior director at XAG which is one of the pioneering technology companies looking to use drones and automated machines to revolutionise farming in China. Putting their money where their mouth is, XAG have two demonstration farms: 200ha for cotton and 50ha for rice production. Justin was proud to declare his cotton was grown “Hands Free” while passing over a white towel with a latitude and longitude printed on it. The other farm has a focus on rice due to this being the staple crop in China.
Justin believes education, demonstration and involvement is the only way future farmers will opt into new methods of growing crops. So I asked him three questions:
- How is AI helping with the development of technology XAG is bringing to market?
“Farm management software is the Key. Information fed back from the thousands of drone flights daily is being assessed by a trial AI to simulate and determine disease and pest prediction while also pinpointing areas that may need drone crop protection and additional resources and thereby aiming to increase production of crops for food stability.”
- Is XAG working on any seed coating or primed seeds?
“Yes, to rice crops increasing their yield from 70-75% up to 90–95% with coatings of pesticide, herbicide, fertilisers and natural plant products. Confirming this we are running tests to verify these numbers on our trial farms and with cooperative farmers.”
- What are your predictions for the future of farms in the next 5-10 years?
“The average age of a farmer in China is 53 years old. In another 10 years they will be over 60 looking to retire. We are looking to a future with potentially no younger farmers coming in to help feed the potential 8bn+ global population. There is a company shift for the focus to be not just hardware but to make a predictive software platform to help make better decisions.
“Before all these farmers are going into retirement it is imperative to get all this experience & knowledge recorded and used. Currently farmers are carrying too much weight on their shoulders to be efficient and profitable, so i believe more advanced technology and precision application of modern chemicals are key to unlocking this.”
The four years on since my Nuffield report I have seen the advancement of connectivity to all new mobile phones having 5G capability. However this has not solved the coverage challenge in this country with many areas still having communication blackspots that hold back some advanced technologies in agriculture.
I still stand by my original Nuffield report final statement, The 4th Industrial Revolution for agriculture is happening right now – the farmers who do not adopt and embrace will be left behind. I am hopeful that automation, robotics and AI will not only improve the experience of farmers and operatives but increase food production in a better and more sustainable way in a world that requires both.
Jonathan Gill is a Nuffield scholar (2018) and an agri technology consultant – www.AgRobotjon.co.uk
