Agritech

Use Case One: Soil sensors – Crop Production  

With this use case we aim to empower UK farmers by providing real-time data from advanced on-farm sensors that monitor crop, soil, and environmental conditions. This data will drive automation, improve efficiency, and promote environmental sustainability in agriculture. Our innovative approach will enhance decision-making and provide robust evidence on how transformative agri-tech solutions can make farming more sustainable and profitable. 

As the UK faces national and global challenges such as the net-zero transition, food security, and global economic pressures, our agricultural sector must adapt. With one of Europe’s largest agricultural markets, UK farmers are eager to adopt new technologies that boost efficiency and productivity. Our proposal involves deploying next-generation soil probes to monitor soil health, nutrient availability, and the effectiveness of inputs like fertilisers and pesticides. This will help optimise farm productivity and reduce environmental impact. 

Additionally, we will create a localized soil heat map, accessible through an app, to track soil changes throughout the growing season. This platform will also serve as a demonstration tool, potentially expanding regionally or nationally to provide real-time UK soil status updates for farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Figure 1 – WET150 and MSense30 soil sensors in Winter Wheat at Cockle Park Farm, NU Farms. 

Figure 2 – Example of real time soil data (Temperature) being visualised on the dashboard.

Use Case Two: Methane Sensors – Livestock Management

We aim to empower UK farmers by providing real-time data from advanced on-farm methane and environmental sensors to boost efficiency and enhance sustainability. Our approach will deliver robust evidence showing how innovative agri-tech solutions can make farming both more sustainable and profitable through data-driven decision-making. 

As the UK transitions to Net Zero, agriculture—which accounted for 11% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020—will play a critical role. Enhanced methane monitoring is essential for meeting national carbon reduction goals, and future methane emission reporting is likely to become mandatory. 

To address this, we will integrate three currently separate data streams into a unified cloud-based system for dairy farm operations. This will enable farmers to track the impact of different management practices on methane emissions and milk production, such as the effects of alternative feeding regimes. 

Figure 1 – The resident dairy herd at Nafferton Farm, NU Farms.