TECHNOLOGY AT THE JERSEY ROYAL COMPANY WITH MIKE RENOUARD BUSINESS UNIT DIRECTOR (AT JRC) One of our newest LEAF Demonstrations Farms, the Jersey Royal Company (JRC), has been awarded ‘Best Use of Technology for Sustainability’ in the Digital Jersey Tech Awards 2020, competing with a range of industries including finance, renewable energy and tech companies. Their win was a result of developing a IoT remote sensor system, providing up-to-the-minute intelligence on weather conditions to predict the growth of their Jersey Royal potatoes and tea crops covering over 9,000 vergées and accurately determining crop needs in terms of irrigation, fertiliser and PPPs.
WHY IS IT NEEDED? JRC farm approximately 1,600 fields on the Island of Jersey with each individual field around 2 acres, making accurate application of inputs challenging. The weather, and particularly rainfall, also varies considerably within a day and across the Island. Irrigation was largely based on guesswork and there was difficulty in preventing seed storage temperatures becoming too warm. JRC therefore identified the need for greater monitoring and application accuracy and purchased 20 sensors through the Countryside Enhancement Scheme.
4
