AGRITECH
Catalyst speaks to Dr Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-Tech East, about how digital mapping is revolutionising the farming industry
raditionally, farmers would walk their fields to see how the crops were doing, and if they saw
issues like dry soil on the seedbed, weed black grass coming through the wheat or marks of a virus on the leaves, they would make a mental note and then consider the best action. But now, a smartphone is becoming a second set of eyes for the farmer, and we are seeing the wider use of drones and satellites to provide remote sensing of crops. Images of the crop are captured and processed by machine learning or AI software to determine areas of poor growth, and then the results are made available to the farmer on their smartphone or computer. The exciting part is that this digital mapping can now be used to direct smart equipment, with benefits for the environment and the wider food system. There is a small window of opportunity between spotting early signs of a problem and controlling it before it gets out of hand. All gardeners will recognise this: you see a few weeds before you go on holiday, but when you come home, it’s a jungle! For farmers, a delay in action incurs a huge difference in cost. If you can target the problem while it is small and contain it, this reduces the need to spray the whole field. Not only is this better for the environment, but also cuts the cost of the herbicide or fungicide for the farmer. With GPS-controlled tractors and sprayers, it is increasingly possible to use the information from the field maps to direct the sprayer. In the near future, it will be possible to direct a carefully targeted injection of chemical just to the affected area – and this might not
Soil health is the key to good food. Creating healthy soils is a top priority for farmers, particularly on the Fens, where it is literally blowing away. Nutrients in the soil are used by the plants and are then released when the food is eaten. So if you have soil rich in nitrogen and micronutrients such as iron and selenium, which are important for human health, then higher levels are found in the plant. Many of the microorganisms in the soil have evolved over millions of years to protect the plants they live with and also to make it easier for them to get nutrients from the soil. In return, the plants give them sugars made in their leaves from carbon dioxide and water. This system can also work in the farmer’s benefit. By creating an environment that is beneficial for soil microbes, the plants will be more resilient to stress from water
even be a chemical. Laser weeders or natural predators such as nematodes (roundworms) applied to the whole field might be more effective. Increasingly, the industry is looking at ways to weaken the weeds or diseases so that natural competition by beneficial organisms can help to maintain control, without the need for widespread use of chemicals. Improving the balance in the biome in this way is also better for human health. However, it does require consumers to have more tolerance of blemished and wonky vegetables. In a more natural system, a certain proportion of the crop would be affected by insects and diseases – this type of damage is easily cut off, but there is still the public perception that food needs to be perfect.
ISSUE 04 30
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