Barclays have been very active in promoting agritechnology and these webinars followed on from a live event held at their Cranfield hub in late January.
The format is short and sweet, with two speakers presenting for 15 minutes each and then questions from the audience. These are not masterclasses but an opportunity to show where innovation could take us in the future.
The first speaker on the topic “Soil Health – How can new soil sensors and testing improve productivity?’’ was Rob Ward, CEO of CHAP member PES Technologies. He explained how the company is developing a complete suite of remote soil sensors that can tack changes in soil nutrient levels, pH, moisture content and several other features relevant to soil health.
PES Technologies is already working with CHAP on the use of sensors for detecting Potato Cyst Nematode presence in soil , with an aim to avoid time consuming and costly soil sampling.
The second speaker, Freddie Reed of fellow Agri-Tech Innovation Centre Agri-Epi, showed how they were testing a number of remote soil sensors on their satellite farms (see image).
The aim is to use the data generated by the sensors to manage fertiliser application when using GPS guided machines in the field.
This means that nutrient use is matched to soil and crop requirements thus avoiding excessive use which in turn reduces costs and benefits the environment.
The webinar series continues on May 26th with the topic of Carbon Sequestration and Soil Health. Speakers will be prof. Guy Kirk of CHAP partner Cranfield University and Phil Jarvis of the Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust.
The third and final webinar on June 3rd will be an introduction to Cover Crops and will feature Paul Brown of Kings Crops, part of CHAP partner Frontier Agriculture and Jack Hannam, Soil Scientist at Cranfield University.
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