Farmers requesting custom sensors

As more research provides evidence of the value of field-based sensors,  some producers are even specifying the functionality of their sensors to meet their requirements.

Tim Blyth, partner of Soil Moisture Sense and speaker at the forthcoming RemSens SIG meeting, says that findings emerging from research by potato expert David Firman of Niab and others is driving the development of more complex sensors.

He says: “Originally we sold probes that only measured soil moisture. Now we can monitor many parameters including nutrient content, rainfall, temperature and humidity.

“In fact we are consistently increasing what we can measure, even custom making sensors for some farmers. This gives a more detailed understanding of the crop’s needs so the grower can tailor the irrigation and fertiliser schedule, for example, to give optimum results.”

Tim Blyth and David Firman will be joined by Dr Richard Whalley from Rothamsted Research who will also be giving a talk on the opportunities for imaging below the soil surface in agriculture. One of the desired outcomes of the SIG will be to produce a roadmap of remote sensing needs from growers and farmers to direct future technology developments. To gain input for this there will be a facilitated group discussion on the issues raised and attendees can suggest how the technology can and should be developed.

The Agri-TechE RemSens SIG meeting “Getting to the Root and Branch of Remote Sensing and Monitoring” is to be held at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE2 6XE from 13.30 on the 8th October 2015.