• Login/Join
    • Login
    • Join Agri-TechE
Menu
  • Login/Join
    • Login
    • Join Agri-TechE
  • Home
  • About
    • About Agri-TechE
    • Stakeholder Group
    • Introductions to the agri-tech cluster
    • International
    • Agri-Tech Briefings
      • Controlled Environment Agriculture
      • Gene editing consultation – what does it mean for agri-tech?
      • Controlling light in farming
      • What is ELMs? Agri-Tech to support Environmental Land Management
    • Agri-TechE Newsletters
      • Sign up to the newsletter
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Agri-TechE activities, conferences and missions for 2022
    • REAP Conference 2022
    • Agri-Tech Week
    • Our Publications
  • Articles
    • Agri-tech News
    • Member News
    • Monthly Musings
    • Innovator Spotlight
    • Leaders in the Field
    • Agri-Tech Archives
  • Community
    • Research Digest
    • Opportunity Zone
    • Early-Career Innovators’ Forum (ECIF)
    • Funding Latest
  • Members
    • Directory
    • Become an Agri-TechE Member
    • Member Testimonials
    • Increasing your profile
    • Agri-TechE Member Drop-In
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • About Agri-TechE
    • Stakeholder Group
    • Introductions to the agri-tech cluster
    • International
    • Agri-Tech Briefings
      • Controlled Environment Agriculture
      • Gene editing consultation – what does it mean for agri-tech?
      • Controlling light in farming
      • What is ELMs? Agri-Tech to support Environmental Land Management
    • Agri-TechE Newsletters
      • Sign up to the newsletter
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Agri-TechE activities, conferences and missions for 2022
    • REAP Conference 2022
    • Agri-Tech Week
    • Our Publications
  • Articles
    • Agri-tech News
    • Member News
    • Monthly Musings
    • Innovator Spotlight
    • Leaders in the Field
    • Agri-Tech Archives
  • Community
    • Research Digest
    • Opportunity Zone
    • Early-Career Innovators’ Forum (ECIF)
    • Funding Latest
  • Members
    • Directory
    • Become an Agri-TechE Member
    • Member Testimonials
    • Increasing your profile
    • Agri-TechE Member Drop-In
  • Contact Us

Search

More results…

Generic filters
Exact matches only

  • News
  • Agri-Tech Wish List, Agrovista, pollinator, precision farming

The role of the agronomist is changing

  • December 5, 2016
  • 12:54 pm

Jack Harris, AgrovistaRobotic sprayers and dual hoppers are just two of the ideas on the wish list for Agrovista’s Jack Harris. Always keeping an eye out for new technology, Jack is excited by the continuing improvement of robotics, drones and seed technology and gives his vision of the future.

He says: “There’s lots of work going on with autonomous machines and robotics at the moment, which could offer a 24 hour operating window for farmers. A robot sprayer could sit in the field waiting for the command to spray, and when provided it would spray in the correct weather conditions. If the weather deteriorates, it would stop, allowing farmers to focus on other jobs. Sounds a bit out there, but it could happen!

“When drones become safe enough to detect and avoid, and fly beyond visual line of sight, the farm could have a drone which scans the crops on a daily basis. This could be sent to the agronomist for targeted field walking. I am also looking forward to new seed technology. For example, if you have an area of a field which gets very dry and loses water, instead of increasing/decreasing seed rates why not have two hoppers on the drill – one with a drought tolerant variety and one with a normal variety.”

The Precision Farming Specialist will discuss these innovative ideas alongside leading experts from plant breeding and agri-engineering on January 12th, at the first Pollinator of 2017 ‘A new agriculture – what will the future hold?’

From cop to crop

Starting out his career in an entirely different role, Jack became introduced to farming and never looked back: “I was working on a friend’s farm after leaving the police, and someone suggested that I try agronomy, so I gave it a go and here I am!

“The role of agronomist continues to evolve, encompassing a lot more than just advice and agricultural chemicals. I discuss a wide range of services with customers, such as GPS soil sampling, drone technology, variable rate plans, mapping software, crop recording software and much more.”

Citing stagnant yields, costs and volatile prices as the main challenges facing farmers, these factors make running a sustainable business very tough. Despite its benefits, precision farming cannot answer this problem alone.

He says: “Precision farming shouldn’t be looked at as the magic cure for improving yields – it should be part of the tool box. When worked alongside seed, agricultural chemicals, good rotation and soil management, it allows you to measure, assess, target and improve.”

“If you use precision farming technology, you are trying to give the crop everything it needs to be successful. That could be varying seed and fertiliser across fields to give the crop what it needs or using GPS autosteer to reduce fuel and wasted overlaps. At the end of the day it’s the weather that decides yield, but precision farming can help set the crop up to achieve its potential.”

Pollinator: A New Agriculture – What Will the Future Hold?, Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, Dereham Road, Norwich NR5 0TT 12 January, 2017

Click here to find out more.

Share

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Related Posts
  • Agri-Tech East Events 2017
  • Highlights of 2016
  • Robots emerging as agricultural co-workers
  • Advances in underground growing brings salad to London tunnels
  • An Agri-Tech Christmas Wish List
Archives

Agri-TechE on Twitter

Tweets by AgriTechE 

MORE INFORMATION

  • News archive
  • Privacy
  • Events
  • Newsletter sign-up
  • View latest newsletter
Menu
  • News archive
  • Privacy
  • Events
  • Newsletter sign-up
  • View latest newsletter
Twitter Facebook Youtube Linkedin Instagram

© Agri-TechE 2022

Site design by Out of House