Technology New fund to support innovation and adoption of agri-technology to transform business performance. Belinda Clarke, director of AgriTechE, said: “The proposed new Farming Investment Fund will – we hope – help de-risk the investment in new technologies which we see is often a barrier to uptake by farmers.” Ease of access to the fund would be key to its success, said Dr Clarke. She added: “We hope the outcomes will be assessed by meaningful metrics which are relevant to farmers, as well as relatively simple to capture.”
Eligible investment Types of eligible investments could include on-farm water storage infrastructure; robotic or automated technology to improve animal health and welfare; and equipment for the processing of agricultural products.
Photo credit: Agri-TechE
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government pledge to encourage the adoption of new farming technology by growers and livestock producers has been welcomed by industry leaders. The Farming Investment Fund will open later this year. It follows the end of the Countryside Productivity Small Grants scheme, which part-funded purchases of farm equipment. That scheme closed in January. Defra said the investment fund would continue to ensure support remained available for adoption of innovation and productivity improvements. In this respect, the fund has similar objectives to the scheme it replaces. “The fund will provide targeted support to businesses so that they can invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure that will improve their productivity and deliver environmental and other public benefits,” said Defra. There will be two levels of the Farming Investment Fund: • Farming Equipment and Technology Fund – which will offer small grants to contribute towards the purchase of a list of specified items • Farming Transformation Fund – which will provide larger grants towards the cost of more substantial investments in equipment, technology or infrastructure, with the potential
The scheme must be easy to access, says Belinda Clarke, of Agri-TechE
Previous schemes have helped fund livestock handling systems
Funding will be in addition to increased investment in farmer-led research and development projects to trial and demonstrate the viability of new and existing technologies. These technologies will be selected to address immediate on-farm productivity challenges. They will also seek to address ways that agriculture can meet targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero. Example projects could include the trialling new feed additives or demonstrating the integration of autonomous farm machinery.
Sharing weather data means better decisions More farmers are sharing weather data so they can improve decisions when it comes to crop management. Farmers, agronomists and buying groups have embraced data collaboration – recognising its value in day-to-day farm management and the effective use of crop protection products, according to agri-weather pioneers Sencrop. The French agri-tech startup has activated 250 private weather networks across Eu-
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rope – with 25 of those networks within the UK – connecting over 9,000 on-farm stations from its total of 15,000. “During 2020 we doubled the number of ag weather stations in the UK,” says Sencrop UK market co-ordinator Fleur van Luijk. “A quarter of our stations are connected collaboratively within a private network, enabling access to data from other stations.” Users – whether farmers, advisers, contractors, managers or
anyone else with authorisation – can retrieve all weather data in a secure, ultra-localised manner using a smartphone app or a standard browser. Armed with this information, farmers can better anticipate weather or disease risks, allocate daily tasks to make the most of appropriate weather windows and ensure best practice when using crop protection products. Agronomists are using shared data to improve their
recommendations to customers. Processors and buyers are using it to develop harvest strategies that optimise harvest windows, while maintaining supply volumes. Nearly one in 10 of the networks include more than 100 farmers or more than 100 stations – with customers configuring networks to suit their own needs. Over half the networks have more than 10 stations, ranging from a few square miles upwards.
