Abstracts Innovation in agri-tech Royal Academy of Engineering Monday 12 October 2.00pm – 6.30pm Keynote Keynote address: precision in agri-tech Willie Thomson, Technical Director, Harbro Ltd; Industrial Leader of the proposed Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre bid for the next Centre for Agricultural Innovation The UK's agricultural industry has the potential to take a leap forward in sustainable efficiency if it can harness the opportunities offered by new precision engineering technologies. These technologies, along with the data generated from the associated sensors, will transform understanding of production; will allow more efficient targeting of scarce nutrients; and could place the UK at the forefront of a new global agricultural revolution. The UK government has recognised the need for this transformative change and reflected this in its AgriTech strategy. This initiative is engaging industry and researchers to create a new dynamism within the food and farming industry. Central to the AgriTech strategy is a £90 million investment in new Centres of Agricultural Innovation. At present, the first Centre, on agrimetrics, has been commissioned, and three other proposals have been selected for final negotiations. These are a livestock Centre, a crop health Centre and a precision engineering Centre. The proposed Agriculture Engineering and Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI Centre) is an industrially-led collaboration between the food supply chain, agricultural engineers, precision technology providers and leading UK academic institutes. This proposed Centre aims to place advanced engineering at the core of UK agricultural science, and to use the data generated from sensor technology to create an understanding of the greatest opportunities and requirements for further research and development. In his presentation, Willie Thomson, lead of the Agri-EPI bid, will detail the opportunity created by the government's AgriTech strategy, and will outline how this proposed new Centre could address the challenges faced by industry to create a global opportunity for UK engineers. 1 Session 1 Efficient agricultural systems: from machine to farm Trevor Tyrrell, CEO, CLAAS UK Many large agricultural harvesting machines have reached a physical limit in terms of weight, width, height or length. Therefore, future efficiency gains cannot be made by simply producing larger machinery - efficiencies have to be gained in other ways. Recent innovations include new automation systems such as CEMOS, new sensors such as the use of digital imagery, internet and satellite connectivity such as Telematics and GPS Pilot, and new farming systems such as Reduced Traffic. Trevor will discuss a number of the innovations behind these systems, and take a peek into the future of harvesting. Robocrop: precision weed control and sprayer technology Philip Garford, Managing Director, Garford Farm Machinery Ltd Garford specialises in the development and manufacture of farm equipment employing video imaging systems to control specific localised operations in the field. Weed control in commercial farm crops is becoming increasingly restricted due to a number of factors. Legislation has removed from use any chemicals which risk even a small trace of environmental contamination. Existing chemistry is breaking down due to resistance build-up in weeds. Manual labour is becoming cost restrictive and quite often not available when required. Garford’s range of Robocrop implements use video imaging systems which, working in real time, differentiate crop from other vegetable matter (weeds) in order to locate the position of either the crop, the weed or both and then utilise that information to carry out beneficial operations in the vicinity of the crop row or individual plants. The specific operations can be either mechanical weeding which can cut down herbicide usage to zero in many cases or target specific material applications such as herbicides so cutting often to just 1 or 2% of the overall rate of use, giving clear environmental and commercial benefit. 2 Session 2 Scaling up precision irrigation Dr Mark Else, Programme Lead - Resource Efficiency for Crop Production, East Malling Research New, low-input cropping systems are needed to help reduce the impacts of global climate change on food security, food chain quality and availability of limited resources. A first step towards achieving this goal is to identify the agronomic and environmental factors that affect yield, quality and shelf life of fresh produce. An oversupply of irrigation water and fertiliser can lead to excessive vegetative growth which, in turn, reduces light penetration and increases the risk of disease, and during changeable weather can result in produce with poor organoleptic qualities and limited shelf life. Precision, automated irrigation systems that match demand with supply have been developed for several horticultural sectors, and results from on-farm experiments have shown that in addition to improving resource use efficiency, marketable yields and consistency of produce quality can also be improved. New sensors and associated technologies are being developed to ensure that these benefits can be achieved in commercial production systems. In tandem, novel imaging systems are being developed to ease the integration of these low-input approaches into commercial practice, so that consistency of cropping, plant performance and crop responses to abiotic and biotic stresses can be monitored and measured in real time to inform on-farm decision making. eCow: real-time rumen monitoring Professor Toby Mottram, Founder and Chief Engineer, eCow The ability of ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) to convert otherwise inedible material (grass, straw, fruit pulp) into human food (milk and meat) gives them a unique role in ecological and agricultural systems. The problem for the management of these animals is that the functioning of the anaerobic rumen is hidden and the results of inadequate nutrition may damage the animal's health. The rumen telemetry bolus developed by eCow allows scientists and nutritionists to measure the pH and temperature within the rumen continuously. The issues to overcome in this technology have been encapsulating robust sensors, miniaturised electronics and wireless telemetry through the dielectric layers of rumen liquor and tissue. The data received from boluses is now changing our understanding of how to manage the rumen replacing invasive and dangerous sampling techniques with continuous accurate data. This technology shows the potential for radical improvements in productivity and health of millions of food animals based on new data capture technology. 3