Every year we handpick some of the most exciting early-stage companies to take part in the REAP Start-up Showcase. Not all of these disruptive technologies and services will reach the market, but a high proportion of those featured at REAP are making good progress. Here we revisit some of the participants to ask: ‘what happened next?’
A heat sensitive coating for greenhouse glass, that would maintain optimum temperatures all year around and remove the annual cost of applying and removing shading, is being developed by Albotherm.
The REAP 2021 Start-Up Showcase, sponsored by Rothamsted Enterprises, features a line-up of exciting early-stage agri-tech ventures – energy saving for glasshouses; pollination innovation; baits for insect pests; diagnostics for plant health; yield prediction that helps inform decision making on interventions and automation for asparagus and raspberry harvesting.
Fieldwork Robotics is on track to deliver an automated harvester for raspberries in 2022 that will be available for hire on a pay-per-kilo basis with selected growers, and is currently fundraising to speed its development.
To enable farmers to increase pollinator levels, AgriSound is launching an insect listening device called POLY, which displays a heat-map on a smartphone to show insect activity. It highlights pollination deficits on-farm as well as providing proof that interventions increase ecosystem services.
A new molasses bait spray will lure Spotted-Wing Drosophila, an invasive fruit fly, to its death before it has a chance to lay its eggs on fruit crops, and only uses a tiny amount of insecticide against one of UK horticulture’s biggest threats.
Detecting changes in the rate of photosynthesis can give a fast indication of the plant physiological state, resulting from the levels of water, light, temperature or nutrient levels. Gardin has developed an optical phenotyping sensor, a low-cost device that can give the grower timely recommendations for action.
A heat sensitive coating for greenhouse glass, that would maintain optimum temperatures all year around and remove the annual cost of applying and removing shading, is being developed by University of Bristol spin-out Albotherm.
The robot uses an automated gripper arm to cut the asparagus that is within the grower’s spec and place it in a container, and it can predict yields, thereby increasing the value of the crop.
Weed mapping and disease prediction is achieved using data gained from multiple sources and is layered into Omega Crop’s proprietary crop model resulting in either a yield loss event prediction or diagnosis; the findings are delivered to the agronomist or farmer as actionable intelligence.
The brains behind Small Robot Company’s team of agri-robots has been launched at REAP 2020. Wilma provides per plant intelligence on plant health.
Xampla is creating edible micro plastics from pea powder.