Insight into latest agricultural technologies at workshop

North-east farmers were offered an insight into the latest agricultural technologies being used within the region – as they heard the new “golden age” of farming has begun.

More than 100 people attended the first Opportunity North

East (ONE) Food, Drink and Agriculture Future Farming Workshop, held in Oldmeldrum yesterday, to hear the latest on the new digital technologies available and how they directly affect production.

ONE director for food, drink and agriculture, Peter Cook, said the workshop was part of a newly launched year-long pilot programme and fund.

“There’s a technology revolution,” he added.

“Agritech is moving beyond field mapping – to low-cost monitoring and management of livestock – to radically improve growth rates and efficiency.”

Bob Yuill, director of ScotEID, said agriculture was entering “a new golden age” and added: “Gross added value (from agritechnology) could be worth £1.2 billion and could free up more than 6,000 people to take on new tasks.

“Passports will probably be done away with – removing all paperwork as cattle tags can be scanned directly to the database.”

Udny pig farmer Roderic Bruce explained the importance of technology to his business.

He described how each of his sows are given the right amount of food, and every trough has a probe fitted.

He said: “From that we get a real-time feed conversion rate. We also measure CO2 rates, ammonia levels, inside and outside temperatures – and air jets control air flow to avoid putting the pigs in a draught.

“The 3D cameras over the pigs measure their growth rate, and can also predict when they might start tail-biting, which is the scourge of the pig farmer.”