The land managers embracing technology in agriculture

For hundreds of years, farming has innovated, changed and developed. However, the past two decades have seen technology at the forefront; machinery, software and data advances are driving farming possibilities, performance and results.

This narrative also takes in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and autonomous farming. Are they the future of the industry and, if so, how do they sit in one of the world’s oldest professions?

Drones have never been far from the debate, and while using drones for landmapping is not new, development has turned to tasks previously carried out by man and tractor.

CLA member Peter Johnson set up QuadRotor in 2023 to clean commercial greenhouses and polytunnels. Safer than putting someone on a glass roof and covering a hectare per hour, demand for the product quickly grew.

Last year, Dejex, a Lincolnshire-based supplier to commercial crop production companies, invested in QuadRotor. The collaboration opened up a wider client base and QuadRotor now offers spreading and seeding services. By the end of the year, it hopes to have permissions to apply herbicides and pesticides.

“The attitude has changed a lot,” says Peter. “Farmers are saying ‘this is interesting and as soon as you get the approval we are away’. There are so many reasons why it makes sense.”

With tractors costing anything from £200,000, and sprayers even more, buying a drone costs considerably less, offers flexible application with precision, uses less product and takes less time. Its use is not just limited to arable ventures: one hill farmer used a QuadRotor drone to get feed pellets to sheep in bad weather, which was preventing him from getting to them on foot or by quadbike.

Peter predicts that within two years, farmers will be buying their own drones and getting the necessary paperwork to operate them. “America, Asia, South America - they do it all by drone and have been for 15 years,” he says.

“When the government gets its act together, it will be massive and mainstream in the UK. They are doing it in so many countries around the world, why can’t we just learn from it? It has huge benefits for farmers – and goodness, they need it now.”

The National Agency for Smart Data in Agriculture (Nasda UK) is a new platform from the not-for-profit Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council. Farmers and landowners sign up for free, contribute farm or land data and have the option to sell it and interoperate with other technologies. They can be named or anonymous, and contribute as little or as much as they like.

The monetary return depends on how much data they contribute and how detailed it is. Between 95% and 100% of data sales profits goes to the farmer and 5% to rural charities, if the farm wishes.

Anna Woodley, Managing Director of Business Development at Trinity AgTech, one of Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council’s founding companies, says the model had been floated before without benefit to the farmer, as carbon data companies capitalised on the demand for information on productivity, emissions, science, data supply chains and markets.

“So, at the moment, the people benefitting are not farmers. We want to change that. Farmers are struggling, so why are we not allowing this to flow back into their pockets?”

With a simple platform, assistance and a financial incentive, it is hoped that more farmers will get involved and therefore be better equipped to use data to drive improvements, reduce costs and optimise strategy in their businesses.

“They can really start using that data – whether that is to make investments for their own business or another operation, or put data in technology and software,” adds Anna.

“It is like their own personal data repository. There will be mechanisms to change what data they want to contribute and to which datasets. There will be the option to have relationships with supply chain stakeholders, for example a retailer or dairy company, and multiple different levels or options to drive income.

“We have to get better at enabling farmers to use data in a way that benefits them without having to have a PhD in engineering or data modelling.”

Nasda UK is in a consultation period until the end of August, with Trinity AgTech calling for farmer feedback before a planned rollout in autumn. Find out more at trinityncpc.com/nasda-uk.

Scope for innovation in agriculture, food production and farming is endless, and universities are setting up dedicated teams to look at making farming more advanced and sustainable.

Lincoln Agri-Robotics brings together the University of Lincoln’s Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT) and the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems. What started out as a small research institute with five academics now has 70 people looking at robotics and plant precision breeding, as well as barriers to AI and automation uptake.

Professor Elizabeth Sklar, Research Director at LIAT, stresses that AI and autonomation aren’t “looking to replace jobs, but looking to respond to job shifts”.

Strawberry picking, for example, needs technology and employees. Using robots to pick strawberries is not effective, as it needs the human eye to determine which fruit is ripe for picking, as well as a delicate human hand. However, robots can transport fruit around the farm, freeing up staff. Yield prediction can be done by scanners and sensors, rather than a person walking around the field.

LIAT is also working with seed companies on precision breeding and energy in plant systems to increase resilience to climate change, insects and disease.

“Higher education is changing nationally and in other countries, says Elizabeth. “Student numbers are down, fewer people are going to university, so we need to look at diversifying income streams.

“Being in agri-food and tech, there is some research that may never turn into anything profitable but has helped identify avenues; that is the value universities bring.

“If you work in a company to address a problem, you usually find the first solution. In research, you look for multiple solutions, evaluate them and find the best, and that knowledge can’t be underestimated.”

AI, computer vision, workforce control, automation, robots on the ground - all of this will become mainstream in the future of farming, Elizabeth says. However, barriers remain. “One of the biggest hurdles is around infrastructure,” she says.

“When you create something that works on the farm you develop it on, will it work on a different farm? A lot of variation can be managed with AI but it does not get you over the challenge of physical terrain. We need hardware companies to manage that.

“The biggest mistake I see from companies is they don’t talk to farmers. How many people say ‘I am designing a system to work on a farm’ but have never been to a farm or talked to a farmer? You need to do that before everything else.”