The Cyber Farm

Special Report: Part 2 - In our previous issue, we looked at how farming could soon be transformed by technology, including drones and robots. Jess Stevenson introduces 12 of these coming innovations

- By Jess Stevenson. Photographs by Alan Batley

1. CARBON CALCULATING

Good data analysis balances the amount of carbon a farm sequesters. Costs are cut on chemicals, while profits and biodiversity are improved. Natural capital features, such as restored field and riparian margins, are valued and used to increase predators for pests. The tech is in its infancy but there is a growing field of carbon- and biodiversity-calculating firms. Trinity AgTech uses scientific methodology, remote-sensing technologies and an AI machine to process data to make sure a farm is operating to its triple-bottom-line – for people, planet and profit.

2. RENEWABLE ENERGY

Renewable energy will reduce the farm’s carbon footprint. Anaerobic digesters, for example, can use animal and food waste to generate biogas. In Lincolnshire, an anaerobic digester powers Dyson Farming’s new giant glasshouse, which produces 750 tonnes of strawberries each year. Heat from the digester and a climate-control system allows an expanded growing season. The waste digestate is used as organic fertiliser on nearby fields. A circular approach means the farm is carbon neutral.

3. PRECISION TECH, AUTOMATION AND DATA