Smart farming technology to tackle black-grass problem

An innovative project for black-grass control that aims to use precision farming technology, sensors and AI  to deliver a smart sprayer for targeted applications has gained funding from the Farming Innovation Programme – Small R&D Partnership Projects. The collaboration will include Agri-TechE members BASF Digital Farming and Rothamsted Research along with experts from Bosch and Chafer Machinery.

Black-grass economically damaging

Black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) is a weed that inhibits the growth of wheat crop, reducing its yield and therefore damaging the productivity of farms.

It is threatening the sustainability of UK cereal production.

David Comont from Rothamsted Research said: “Black-grass has become the UK’s most pressing weed problem, resulting in considerable wheat yield losses annually and causing ever-increasing herbicide use as farmers attempt to control this species.”

It is estimated that the weed is responsible for annual wheat losses of up to 800,000 tons, with associated economic losses of approximately £400 million.

Using the Bosch Smart Spraying camera technology and software, Chafer will design innovative boom sprayers to detect, identify and map black-grass at different growth stages within cereal crops across a farm. The smart sprayer technology will be tested on commercial farms selected from the Rothamsted Black-Grass Research Initiative (BGRI).

Agronomists from Rothamsted will label the images and will support Bosch in training algorithms to recognise black-grass in cereal crops. This information is then processed and analysed by BASF Digital Farming and delivered to its advanced xarvio Digital Farming Solutions crop optimization platform.

In the platform, the information will be used to map infield populations to support the development of integrated weed management plans for targeted black-grass control.

Additionally, beside a superior performance in black-grass control, the project could result in reduced herbicide volumes sprayed in-field. This would minimise unintended direct consequences on other organisms and reduce the potential for leaching into other vulnerable ecosystems, such as waterways.

Daniel Ebersold, Head of Digital Farming Project House (Smart Machinery) at BASF Digital Farming, said: “Developing “smarter” systems which can automatically monitor and more precisely spray this weed has the potential to maximise control, whilst reducing both herbicide use and costs to farmers.

“By working together on this important project our shared aim is to find an innovative solution that will measurably reduce the impact of black-grass infestation over time.”

More about BASF and Rothamsted Research.