Dawn of the drone age How agri-tech is raising productivity - and morale

The idea came from an Instagram video," says Tom Amery, looking admiringly at one of three huge drones he has bought to help grow watercress on a Hampshire farm.

- Joanna Partridge

The idea came from an Instagram video," says Tom Amery, looking admiringly at one of three huge drones he has bought to help grow watercress on a Hampshire farm. The drone has four sets of rotary blades and is able to carry up to 50kg (110lb) of fertiliser, seed or feed for spreading or spraying, and is the product of several years of meticulous research by Amery, often using the unlikely corners of social media dedicated to agricultural technology.

Amery and The Watercress Company, where he is managing director, are among the food producers attempting to embrace cutting-edge tech to help speed up processes and boost production in the face of extreme weather conditions. It's a challenge the government appears alive to, with agri-tech included in its industrial strategy this month.

The company has invested £80,000 in the Agras T50 drones, made by the Chinese company DJI and designed for agricultural use.

Distributing potash or phosphate by drone rather than by hand will be "two to three times faster than walking", says Amery. This will mean it can be applied in a more targeted way, reducing the amount of fertiliser needed for the crop, which ends up in the 25m bags of salad it sells each year through the UK's largest supermarkets.

Despite the long-running discussion over whether machines will replace humans in agricultural jobs, Amery said the investment would boost morale. "It's about staff retention, taking out an unfavourable part of the job," he adds. "We will pay the operators more. With more pay, staff are more likely to stay."