Technology settoplaya greater role

In contrasting features, Lycetts director William Barne and agricultural historian Peter Small look at key developments in the Scottish farming industry, centuries apart

Agricultural practices will need to continue to develop and become more efficient, if the findings of recent research is anything to go by.

For instance, accountants PwC have reported on expert views that agricultural consumption will need to increase by close to 70% by 2050 to account for the world’s growing population – projected to hit nine billion people in the same year.

The World Bank has predicted that those across the globe will need to produce 50% more food by 2050 should global population continue to rise at its current pace.

Fortunately, technology is constantly advancing, with various developments being made to aid the agricultural industry, and two main areas of interest are that of drones and autonomous vehicles.

Drones can take the stress out of planting and looking after produce, thanks to systems which have been created by start-up companies that can achieve an uptake rate of 75% and reduce the costs of planting by as much as 85%.

The idea is that the technology sees drones shooting pods with seeds as well as plant nutrients into the soil, enabling plants to receive the nutrients they need to sustain life.

Drones can also make the most of irrigation. To avoid wasting water around a farm, they can be fitted with remote sensing equipment – think multispectral, hyperspectral or thermal sensing systems.

The idea is that the technology will quickly and easily identify the driest sections of a field and then allow farmers to allocate their water resources more economically.

In regards to crop spraying, drones can effectively scan the ground of a farm and then spray the correct amount of liquid once the distance from the ground has been modulated – even coverage will be achieved while the amount of chemicals penetrated into groundwater will be reduced.

When it comes to crop monitoring, time-series animations through the drones will be able to display the exact development of a crop and detail any inefficiencies with production.

Just like drones, the market for autonomous vehicles is looking very bright.

Steps have already been made to showcase how autonomous vehicles can assist those in agriculture.

For instance, a team of agricultural engineers from the Harper Adams University in Shropshire have set about creating an autonomous tractor which can perform tasks like the drilling, seeding and spraying of land while being steered by a farmer who is positioned in a control room.

The same team are also looking into how an automated combine harvester can be used to then harvest the field.

Meanwhile, in the Burgundy region of France, inventor Christophe Millot has been successful in creating a vine-pruning robot.

Developed as a counter to a shortage in farm labour, the latest-generation model of the four-wheeled gadget is made up of six cameras, two arms and a tablet computer found inside the robot.

These features combine in a way that the machine can learn as it goes about its task so to trim grass around each vine with a cut every five seconds.

Drones can take the stress out of planting and looking after produce, thanks to systems which have been created by start-up companies that can achieve an uptake rate of 75% ...