Timac Agro UK Launch new website and competition

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Agri-TechE

To improve and support the business visibility, Timac Agro UK has launched its brand new website today: www.uk.timacagro.com
Timac Agro UK is a specialist in plant and animal nutrition,  offering a specific range of fertilisers adapted to local soils and farmers’ needs.
New features include:

  • Improved and more interactive functionalities such as:
  • Insightful explanation about the wider Roullier group and Timac Agro International’s DNA including the CMI by Roullier, our industrial capability and commercial presence
  • Added news section with regular content coming both from our UK operation and the international group
  • Revamped product catalogue providing description, technical information and many more
  • A dedicated career page to get insight on what it is to work for Timac Agro UK

We hope that this is another development in TIMAC AGRO UK in 2018!
To mark the occasion of our brand new website, we have also included a competition to win a TIMAC AGRO UK branded Schöffel©. Details are on the website, and there are plenty of ways to enter. Find out more and enter.

Field bean quality very variable this year says PGRO

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Agri-TechE

High levels of bruchid damage and very dry weather at harvest in 2018 have led to variable bean seed quality.
Field bean samples tested at PGRO from August to October 2018 had an overall average germination capacity of 79.5%, with winter beans having an average of 79% and spring beans 83%. Germination can be affected by physical damage to the seed caused when harvesting over-dry crops, chemical contamination by glyphosate, or insect damage such as bruchid damage, and if saving seed on-farm, it is important to test seed for germination capacity.
At low levels of bruchid infestation, germination losses may not be significant in larger seeded varieties, although damaged beans can be more susceptible to moulds. It’s likely that lightly infested seeds have a greater chance of survival, with the size of seed and portion remaining following larval feeding being important determinants of germination capacity.
At high levels of seed damage by bruchid, germination is affected, and losses between 10 and 15% germination have been recorded in laboratory tests when bruchid damage is between 40% and 80%. There is potential in the field for the damage to cause seeds to decay before germination occurs, and damage close to the point of attachment with the hypocotyl can cause establishment failure.
This occurs more frequently when bruchid damage levels are high. Crops that are harvested at low moisture content, particularly when less than 12%, may incur mechanical damage during harvesting or cleaning.
Mechanical damage to seed causes seedling abnormalities and increased infection by soil-borne pathogens such as damping off (Pythium spp.), lowering the germination capacity.
If glyphosate has been used as a desiccant, seedling abnormalities are likely to arise if the seed from the treated crop is used.
You can see their full Winter 2018-19 magazine online.
PGRO

Niab says gene editing shows promise

Meet the Network
Agri-TechE

Gene editing has the potential to underpin the next agricultural revolution. As a quicker, more accurate way of selecting desired genetic traits in plant breeding it offers the promise of a step-change increase in agricultural productivity, more durable pest and disease resistance, improved nutrition and resilience to climate change.
Gene editing is a new technique which allows a specific gene to be altered, but only at a very specific point, sometimes without the introduction of any new DNA. It means that plant breeders could precisely improve specific crop traits, for example disease resistance or drought resistance. This technique has been widely used in human, animal and plant cells.
Niab research has shown that genetic innovation (in the form of new crop varieties) accounts for around 90% of yield gain over time in our major arable crops. No amount of investment in robotics, artificial intelligence, satellite and digital technologies can increase a crop’s basic genetic potential. In contrast, gene editing is the latest tool in our wheat breeding research which offer step-change increases in yield.
Niab has recently published its latest findings showing that efficient gene editing in wheat is now possible with similar efficiencies of wheat transformation alone (BMC Plant Biology journal: Efficient generation of stable, heritable gene edits in wheat using CRISPR/Cas9).

KisanHub expands weather station network

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Agri-TechE

KisanHub now has 90 weather stations installed across its grower base, recording weather data at a 15 minute intervals.
The network now runs from North Yorkshire to Cornwall, with another 30 stations yet to be installed in 2018. Although every weather station has been allocated to a grower and positioned on farm, any KisanHub platform user can access the live weather information.
The weather stations that have been deployed are the Davis Vantage Pro-2 Plus. These are capturing:
Rainfall
Temperature
Solar radiation
Relative humidity
Wind speed
Wind direction
Pressure
Dew point
Wind chill
Heat index
If you would like more details or are interested in becoming a KisanHub Crop Intelligence Platform user then please contact the team at business@kisanhub.com

Colin Morgan joins ADAS as business development director

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Agri-TechE

Boxworth, UK. His appointment as business development director comes at an exciting time of growth for the team and enables expansion of the current client base by developing new client relationships and increasing our service offering to existing clients.
Colin joins the team from DNV Global. His 15 years’ experience in sustainability includes global supply chains in food and commodities, as well as working with global food brands to support them in developing and strengthening responsible sourcing strategies.
With broad experience across all aspects of sustainability, Colin’s recent projects have included working in food and farming businesses across the world. This encompasses projects in Burkina Faso with the shea sector, in Bangladesh on human rights in farming, and in Saudi Arabia using sustainability frameworks with food production businesses. He has also worked extensively with UK food producers. Colin is interested in new and emerging food and farming systems and approaches, including novel crops, and is highly competent in understanding the challenges in modern farming and the opportunities open to the sector to improve wellbeing in society. He will be responsible for implementing a growth strategy to enable the Sustainable Food and Farming business to expand its offering in the corporate food sector.
You can find out more about the team’s service offerings on the Sustainable Food and Farming section of our website. For more information, please contact Sarah Wynn. Interested in joining the ADAS team? You can view our current job openings here.

“Game-changing” funding success for European research alliance

Agri-TechE Article
Agri-TechE

A major grant to fund curiosity-driven research into plant communication has been awarded to a John Innes Centre researcher and colleagues from two European institutes.
Professor Richard Morris, programme leader in plant health at the John Innes Centre, is part of an interdisciplinary team which includes Dr Friedrich Kragler from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany, and Professor Julia Kehr from the University of Hamburg.
The successful team, which receives €6.1m over six years, is one of only 27 from across Europe to be awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant. “It’s been a highly rewarding experience to develop new ideas within such an excellent team,” said Professor Morris.
“The synergy was apparent early on and, of course, we’re super-excited about what we’re proposing to do. We’re absolutely delighted to have been selected for funding.”

Richard Morris JIC
Professor Richard Morris – full credit given to the originator of this image

The philosophy of the ERC Synergy programme is simple, said Professor Morris: “They encourage researchers from different disciplines to come together think freely and develop a research programme ‘bottom up’ following their curiosity. He continued: “In my view, it’s a recipe for success and innovation. Scientific progress is driven by the free flow of ideas, data and people and the ERC Synergy programme promotes exactly that.”
John Innes Centre Director, Professor Dale Sanders congratulated the team and said: “The ERC Synergy programme fits really well with the philosophy of the John Innes Centre, achieving excellence in fundamental research and giving scientists the freedom to follow their curiosity. This is a fantastic achievement for the team and it is encouraging to see European partnerships coming together to answer key questions which will push the boundaries of our understanding.”
The highly-coveted grants, worth €250 million in total, enable groups of 2 to 4 lead researchers to bring together complementary skills, knowledge and resources to address research problems at the frontiers of knowledge.
Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “The purpose of this EU funding is to group together top scientific talents and bring out their best. It equips researchers on their quest to put European science on the global stage and make discoveries that will ultimately improve European lives.”
Professor Morris’s research uses mathematical modelling and computational approaches to solve problems in biology. His focus is on how plants encode, transmit and decode information about their environment. He believes the ERC funding is a “game-changer” for his long term scientific goals.
“This grant will be game-changing for my interest in biological information processing in that it brings together leading groups from across Europe in the areas of cell biology, protein biochemistry and mathematical modelling to unravel the mechanisms of RNA-based communication. This funding gives us the freedom to build and develop truly interdisciplinary research teams and train the next generation of researchers. It’s very exciting,” he said.
The fundamental research, explained Professor Morris, will have broad implications in helping to understand how plants adapt to their environment and how grafted plants may use communication strategies to increase specific traits such as disease resistance.
“This is blue skies science that will shed light on how plant cells can talk to one another over long distances to co-ordinate development,” he said. The grants are part of the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. Ends

Scale, Disruption and Brexit

Agri-TechE Article
Agri-TechE

A new dawn for the UK food supply chains?
The UK grocery sector is undergoing a period of unprecedented structural change. The growth and adoption of technology, evolving behavioural trends, fiercer competitor dynamics and momentous industry consolidation has caused a fundamental shift in the power differential between wholesalers, retailers and consumers. Despite the uncertainty of the coming years and Brexit looming on the horizon, one thing is for certain – a new paradigm for the grocery sector is dawning.
Our new report examines how the fast-paced evolution of consumer preferences has left retailers struggling to adapt business models to meet customers’ heightened expectations. Successful strategies and the ability to capitalise on new trading opportunities as they arise will be key to maximising the potential opportunities. The race is on to pivot business models fast enough to be fit-for-purpose in today’s digitally-driven age.
More at https://www.barclayscorporate.com/insight-and-research/industry-expertise/scale-disruption-and-brexit.html

Assessing the economic future of precision farming in the UK

Agri-TechE Article
Agri-TechE

Precision farming technologies that were considered almost ‘space-age’ at the start of the decade (e.g. GPS auto-steering, drones etc.) have now become commonplace. Whilst many of these technologies undoubtedly have potential, there is little information on how their application improves on-farm financial performance.
To assess the cost-benefit of precision agriculture, we have used Andersons’ Loam Farm model to trial precision farming on its wheat enterprise (300 Ha). Loam Farm is a notional business, based in the East of England, which has been running since 1991 and tracks the fortunes of combinable cropping farms. It comprises 600 hectares in a simple rotation of milling wheat, oilseed rape, feed wheat and spring beans, and is based on real-life data. The financial performance for Loam Farm as a whole (i.e. all enterprises) is shown in Figure 1 for 2017 under the status quo and precision agriculture scenarios. The precision agriculture techniques applied included soil mapping and GPS auto-steering whilst variable rate application was also built-in to the equipment used.
Performance was assessed by dividing the wheat enterprise into a series of 10×10 metre grids where seeding and application rates were varied in accordance with land capacity and needs. This meant that in some areas, input application increased and lowered in underperforming areas whilst the poorest land (3% approx.) was not cropped. By applying precision farming techniques, average wheat yield improved by 1.3%; the gross margin increased by 2.0% across the whole farm. Overhead costs rose slightly (0.3%) as the cost of the precision farming technology (£10,000) eclipsed the savings, particularly in labour, brought about by auto-steering. Overall, by applying precision farming techniques on the wheat enterprise Loam Farm boosted its profitability by around £8,400. Thus, indicating a payback in Year 2.
 
 
Figure 1 – Precision Agriculture applied to Loam Farm’s Wheat Enterprise*

£ per Hectare (unless stated) Status Quo Precision Agriculture
Wheat yield (t/Ha)  9.05 9.17
Output  1,163 1,171
Variable costs  394 387
Gross margin 769 784
Overheads  414 415
Rent and finance 243 243
Drawings 77 77
Production margin  35 49

* Trial on wheat enterprise, results shown for whole farm.
Source: The Andersons Centre
per Hectare (unless stated) Status Quo Precision Agriculture
Wheat yield (t/Ha)                          9.05                9.17
Output 1,163 1,171
Variable costs 394 387
Gross margin 769 784
Overheads 414 415
Rent and finance 243 243
Drawings 77 77
Production margin 35 49
* Trial on wheat enterprise, results shown for whole farm.
Source: The Andersons Centre
Michael Haverty, The Andersons Centre
Michael Haverty, Senior Agricultural Economist at The Andersons Centre
By its very nature, the cost-benefit of precision farming will vary from farm-to-farm. Some farms may achieve greater savings whilst for others, the overall benefit will be marginal. It is apparent that there is greater scope for precision farming to generate a return on larger farms. Indeed, for many users it is a key means to effectively manage scale. Once the data are captured on a farm management information system (FMIS) it remains easily accessible for analysis. A farm manager may be able to retain the key information for a small number of fields for the past few seasons in his/her memory. But as farm size rises, and insights from longer-term analysis are required, this will no longer suffice. A farmer’s ability to manage a larger business can be significantly enhanced by precision farming. However, farmers need to be careful in ensuring that the time spent on analysing and managing their precision farming systems is utilised effectively. It is easy to become engulfed in a torrent of data which can end-up inhibiting decision-making.
One would expect the uptake of precision farming to continue to advance. However, for companies offering precision farming products, it is vital that they show in realistic terms what return farmers could generate from investing in such technology.
The Andersons Centre has many years’ experience in conducting economic assessments at the farm, supply-chain and industry level. We are eager to support agri-tech businesses in conducting similar assessments for their products and services. For further information, please visit www.theandersonscentre.co.uk or contact Michael Haverty (mhaverty@theandersonscentre.co.uk).

Barclays investing in the future

Member News
Agri-TechE

Barclays can trace its earliest deal in UK Agriculture to being as far back as 1744 – in the following period of over 270 years since we have supported the sector through many periods of change and challenge.  While during that time we have also been at the forefront of Craig Sigley, Barclaysmuch change, innovation and financial sector firsts – from launching the world’s first cash dispenser in the 1960s to more recent innovations like cheque-imaging and Pingit, the phone-to-phone payment system. Clearly Barclays has an understanding of the need for innovation and, especially in this current era, the use of technology to improve efficiency and keep business productive, profitable, viable and vibrant.
Overall debt to the UK agricultural industry sat at over £18.5 billion in Quarter 4 2017, with credit balances sitting at over £7 billion in the same period – with debt levels being significantly higher the demand for funding and investment capital is clear. As a bank embedded within UK agriculture we often see the trends of agricultural expenditure as they happen, especially with little raw investment date available. While requests for land purchases always remain strong they in fact form less than half of the new funding requests – judged by amount. The large capital expense of a land purchase and long payback time on the investment means that some farms are looking at efficiency improvements and investment in infrastructure as a means of securing business viability in the longer term. Investment is across the board – robotic milking machines, GPS mapping for arable farms and some of the technology in use across the pig and poultry industry has been in place for many years.
From a banking perspective, not only does the investment provide efficiency and innovation it also provides an indication of the forward thinking nature of the management team. With most in the sector falling into the category of price-takers at the farm gate, it is management which most banks need to take a view on for any funding request.  However, it can also provide a huge amount of management data on enterprise performance, yields, and if tied in with a book keeping system it can all provide up-to-the minute management and financial information and ensure the business operator is in complete control of the production on the farm, and knowledgeable about finance requirement from working capital perspective – a sign of good business management.
The industry is alive with the buzz word that Agri-TechE has become and now it needs to look at how to embed new technologies into the industry swiftly and completely, as they happen. The technology that seems jaw-dropping today soon becomes tomorrow’s common place – just look at the innovation in mobile phones since they first appeared. A business which does not invest and embrace the latest innovation can soon become too out dated to catch up.
BarclaysIf you are looking to finance a budding business idea in the Agri-TechE sector or to invest in technology for your farming business to improve efficiency and competitiveness and want an informal chat, call Craig Sigley, Barclays Regional Agricultural Manager, on 07775 543705 to discuss how we might be able to help.

The circular bioeconomy – Farming, food and industry

Member News
Agri-TechE

At BioBridge we look at the market and regulatory aspects of developments in industrial biotechnology, analysing product or technology diversification, and looking for potential partners, writes Meredith Lloyd-Evans, Managing Director and Founder of the Cambridge-based company.
The ideas of interlinked processes are always on our mind and how they create the Circular Bioeconomy.
This concept, linking processes and companies so that side-streams from one become inputs into others, seems socially and environmentally virtuous and high in manufacturing efficiency.
An excellent and well-established example is British Sugar’s Wissington plant, valorising every part of the incoming sugar-beet loads in addition to the sugar, from sieved soil and aggregates, to betaine, to carbon dioxide for carbonated drinks, with excess heat and carbon dioxide used in tomato-production and, more recently, in cannabis cultivation for medicines.

Definition of waste is still an obstacle

One stumbling-block is that many side-streams are still defined as wastes that legally require discarding and cannot go for high-value uses.
This has a large impact on value of additional end-products; without legislation or standards, it blocks full value extraction even when specific processes are shown to be safe and effective at converting unpromising starting materials, such as undifferentiated food wastes or mixed domestic waste, into active components acceptable for human use in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements and other highly-regulated areas.
A start has been made in the EU with acceptance of food wastes for animal feeds*, which will help the efforts to use edible food wastes to feed insects and then produce insect oil and meal for animal feed and extracts of potentially higher-value molecules.

Getting multiple products from single source

The new trend of ‘multi-valorisation’ of raw materials is getting a lot of notice and research, development and innovation funding at national and international levels (here are two examples).
The BIC (Bio-Based Industries Consortium) is the outcome of EU support of this activity, and has now had several substantial funding calls, leading to projects in whey biorefineries, added-value products from algae, sustainable biocomposites, improved lignocellulose conversions, protein mining from cereal side streams and other promising ‘waste valorisation’ endeavours.
One of the areas I work in, blue biotechnology, recognises the usefulness of algae in first of all using side-streams such as heat, carbon dioxide and non-potable water, removing them from negative environmental balance, to produce the positives of processable biomass and cleaner water as outputs. It is now not just about algal biofuels.

Bioreactors create high value components on marginal land

Farmers could adapt non-arable or grazable land by having land-based flat-plate bioreactors for light-dependent microalgae or, if there is accessible coast, introduce suitable seaweeds, which are not only highly-productive of biomass for fractionation, but use excess nutrients introduced by river and coastal run-off of fertilisers and sewage and provide nurseries for young fish and crustacean larvae.
Once biomass from any source has been put into a manageable state, separation of components can begin, from high-fibre polymers and oligomers, anti-oxidant pigments and still-to-be-explored bioactives, to starches, oils and proteins, even before the energy value of the residues are exploited.

Circular economy is stimulating innovation

BioBridge-logoThe drive for innovation can be harnessed not only into a research aspect of exploring and exploiting all the molecules present, but into the technological side – engineering innovation is needed for down-stream processing, especially the steps involving de-watering – and into market-making for the end-products.
So, addressing the potential of the circular bioeconomy using agricultural, food and aquatic biomass can thus provide stimulus for innovation to everyone from academic scientists to market-makers via farmers, engineers and processors.
Contact me if you’d like an opportunities analysis and advice on possibilities in this area for your company or research activity:  mlloydevans@biobridge.co.uk.
 
*Commission Notice 2018/C 133/02 Guidelines for the feed use of food no longer intended for human consumption OJ 16.4.2018

Prodata take on new role as direct importer for Davis Weather Stations.

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Agri-TechE

Prodata Weather Systems, the Ely-based weather and environmental monitoring system experts, are delighted to announce that they will be direct importers for the entire Davis Weather Monitoring Catalogue.
This is a new type of relationship for the two companies, although Prodata have been involved with the US-based Davis for many years.  Their strong relationship has meant that Prodata have been involved in undertaking important beta-testing new products for Davis.
Dr John Dann, managing director said: “Prodata have been Davis dealers for over 20 years.  However, this new deal will give us the ability to import weather systems directly from Davis, which will significantly enhance the services and supply options we can offer to other dealers and retail customers throughout the UK and Ireland.”
He added: “We greatly look forward to our new relationship with Davis and building on our long-held reputation for quality, excellence, support and service.  A solid and reliable set-up service is one of the main keys to our success with Davis products and we will be continuing to build on this approach.”
The Davis product range includes the innovative environmental monitoring system, EnviroMonitor.  This system is extensively used by those in the agricultural and horticultural sectors, but it can be utilised by businesses in other areas, predominately the construction, environmental and sport and leisure sectors.  For individual users and those will simpler needs, Prodata will continue to supply the well-established and renowned Vantage weather station range under this new deal.

New facial recognition technology for producers

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Agri-TechE

To make it easier for fruit and vegetable roducers to manage their seasonal workers, Consus Fresh Solutions has developed a new Facial Recognition feature for its traceability software. Machine learning is used to identify staff and permit access, making clocking on and off a thing of the past and improving allocation of tasks and accountability.

The system compares the photograph in the human resources (HR) database with that of the person trying to enter the packhouse. If recognised, the worker is allowed access and can be given a task, which is then logged on the system.

Consus has developed an intelligent software-based system that reduces the burden of audits and improves productivity. By linking HR records to labour deployment the facial recognition module enables accurate costing of all products and improved traceability.

Derek Thompson, co-founder of Consus Fresh, has experience of managing a large packhouse: “Accurate time and attendance records are vital in a packhouse. In peak season you will have an influx of temporary staff. It is not unknown for staff to clock each other into work or not to turn up at all after the first day.

“Additionally if there is a product recall further up in the chain you may need to be able to identify exactly who was working on a specific product line on a particular day if later audited by a customer.

“The facial recognition system works with the procedures that a packhouse will already have in place but instead of RFID tags it uses a camera to identify the staff. Details are recorded electronically and updates or amendments made remotely.″

Craig Bargery, Packhouse Production Manager at Pollybell Organic Farm in the east Midlands, comments that he is looking forward to being the first to deploy the system in the New Year.

The Consus system is built on the Microsoft Azure platform, which supports AI applications.

Dr Matthew Smith, Director of Business Development at Microsoft research, says: “Consus is meeting a growing need by organisations to harness technologies in order to improve supply chain efficiencies, response times, waste reduction and branding. It’s particularly exciting to see how they’re utilising more advanced analytical capabilities such as face recognition to make the harnessing of the necessary information itself more efficient and effective.″

The Consus team has developed the facial recognition so that it needs no training to identify people; it is also consistent with BRC and reports can be generated to meet the varying needs of auditors and retailers.

Consus sees potential for increasing the level of support to producers and demonstrated two new modules for the product – Facial Recognition for improved workforce management and Shelf-life Prediction – in November at Agri-Tech’s REAP conference and at The CropTec Show.