Agri-Tech with Agri-Robotics Cornwall (ARC) – Entrepreneurial Futures

Supporting agricultural businesses to use research, technology and data to develop sustainable farming practices
Soil testing equipment being used in a field.
The agri-tech strand of Entrepreneurial Futures supported farmers, growers, and land managers in the agricultural sector through the Agri-Robotics Cornwall project, enabling businesses co-develop and adopt technology designed to make farming practices more productive while reducing environmental impacts and increasing biodiversity.
The University worked with farms across Cornwall to develop five smart sites where emerging technology was trialled and demonstrated with farmers and land managers, which included:
  • Engagement with farmer requirements to align developing research to agri-business needs, which enabled the co-design of new research questions.
  • Blending sensor technology with autonomous robotic platforms and imaging drones to deliver high spatial resolution data on-farm.
  • Protocols for post-processing of data to make it useful and relevant to agri-business needs.
  • Data-led land management decisions to enable farmers to develop systems to improve policy compliance for schemes such as ELMS, while monitoring environmental impact.
  • Hands-on demonstration and training in on-farm tech deployment and development to enable local farmers in Cornwall to be at the forefront of the Food Security agenda, with evidence-informed decisions that make farming practices more resilient.
How new technology can help farmers to monitor and improve soil health
Dr Jennifer Rowntree explains how in-field research is essential in validating new sensor technology and approaches to soil analysis, and why agri-tech could help to improve soil biodiversity and the health of our farmlands.
Dr Jennifer Rowntree in the field

Our Research, Design and Innovation offer

Soil analysis in the field.
Soil health

Developing and validating protocols for passive soil composition assessment and mapping using portable gamma spectrometry
Environmental data for agri-tech
Environmental technology

Developing and validating agri-business application of AI plant recognition tools coupled with autonomous quadruped robots
Agri-Tech Unitree robot dog
Robotics and sensors

Understanding agri-sector perspectives and needs from robotics and sensor technology

Agri-Tech handheld soil scanner
Knowledge exchange
Exposing agri-business to agri-tech and environmental tech applications through reciprocal knowledge exchange
Multispectral agri-tech drone
Data
Provision of field scale aerial drone survey multi-spectral data, certified soil quality data and accompanying novel spatial sensor surveys
ELLIE, robot dog, agri-tech research
Training
Hands-on demonstration and training for tech deployment

The Centre of Research excellence in Intelligent and Sustainable Productive Systems (CRISPS)

Our agri-tech research makes major contributions to the wider economy. We work with regional farmers to develop technologically-integrated solutions for sustainable farming, using big data, animal-mounted sensors and practical, in-field robotics to analyse animal movement and welfare, environmental impact and crop health, leading to improved efficiency and cheaper costs.
Centre of Research excellence in Intelligent and Sustainable Productive Systems (CRISPS) hero

Case studies

Our case studies highlight how businesses were supported by Agri-Robotics Cornwall through the Entrepreneurial Futures project, funded by Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth fund.
The videos explore ways in which the adoption of agri-tech has enabled farmers to better understand their land, pinpointing areas with challenges such as nutrient runoff, plant health issues and compaction.
Researchers Jake Shaw-Sutton and Dr Toby Whitley demonstrate the agri-tech available, including robot dogs, drones and robotic traction units.

The ARC team enabled us to identify areas of concern related to flooding, plant deterioration, and other issues affecting plant growth. These findings have been shared with the local community and been used to submit bids for future funding, to help increase the uptake of technology in farming. Using knowledge gained from working with the ARC team, Cornish Essential Oils have a new-to-market product which is in the pre-launch phase.

Cornish Essential Oils

We changed how we manage our land thanks to data gathered in the ARC project. The team helped stop the guess work and enabled us to create a more strategic thought process, reducing chemical and pesticide usage. We have also reduced the use of heavy machinery as a result of seeing damaged patches of land on the drone scans provided by the ARC team. We are now more respectful of the land and support its recovery.

Grown That Way

Activities with the ARC team allowed us to identify areas of concern related to plant deterioration, wildlife intrusions, and other issues affecting plant growth. By examining these maps and interpreting the underlaying data, we have refined our operations and implemented mitigation strategies to prevent and reduce further losses, thereby enhancing land productivity and efficiency.

Lost Gardens of Heligan
 
 

Agri-Tech team

 
 
 
Entrepreneurial Futures