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Briefing
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- Hands Free Hectare – First fully-automated barley farm in Shropshire, U.K. operated by smart tractors, robots, and drones modified with open source software, automating planting to harvest
- Automated Farming – Composed of tractors cultivating soil and spraying fertilizers and herbicides on crops; drones monitoring field with multi-spectral imaging to study soil data, crop disease, and climate impact; and robots collecting samples to know when harvest is ready
- Joint Venture – Hands Free Hectare created from joint venture between Harper Adams University and farming specialist company Precision Decisions
- Costs – Initiative costs £200,000 ($250,000), higher than conventional farms, funded partly by government agency Innovate UK
- Next Steps – Trial automation in farming wheat, as well as making beer from harvested barley
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Accelerator
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Sector
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Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Information Technology
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Organization
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3Shape, Harper Adams University, Innovate UK, Precision Decisions
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Source
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Bryce, E., "In rural England, a fleet of drones monitors and harvests crops",
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Feingold, S., "Field of machines: Researchers grow crop using only automation",
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Twilley, N., "A field farmed only by drones",
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Downs, C., "This farm has no farmers",
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AcceleratingBiz analysis
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Original Publication Date
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January 23, 2018
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