UNLOCKING THE WEST’S RURAL BUSINESS POTENTIAL
In the latest of our pieces promoting the Great South West, Athwenna Irons looks at the developments in farming and countryside management that are propelling our region forwards
THERE’S no denying that the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged every fabric of modern society.
It has placed the food supplies we rely upon under unprecedented strain, so now more than ever we should be celebrating the efforts needed to keep putting delicious and nutritious meals on our tables.
Agriculture in the Westcountry has remained a constant throughout, testament to the relentless hard work and ingenuity of thousands of farmers and food producers.
A raft of newly emerging technologies have the potential to compliment farming’s long traditions improving the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of farming businesses.
According to the Agri-Tech Cornwall project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and open to all small and medium-sized Cornish businesses, agri-tech can be “any innovation that makes agriculture more efficient and productive, more resilient and secure, more profitable, and better able to enhance and protect the natural environment and those that farm it”.
It adds: “To be successful, agritech does have to solve a tangible problem or fulfil a need. It does not have to be directly targeted at farmers – it can add value to farm suppliers or consultants, to farmers, to processors, distributors and even retailers and consumers – so long as the innovation helps in sustainable production and getting produce to market.”
One such innovation comes from Kernow Robotics, which is aiming to ease the well-documented pressures on seasonal labour by introducing self-driving mini tractors to farms in the county.
Working with Agri-Tech Cornwall, the start-up company secured a £7,200 grant to create an automated agricultural robot. Founded in 2019 by Ben Green and based in Torpoint, it is hoped that the first prototype will be up and running by the end of April 2021, with the machine ready for the commercial market in three years, priced at a likely £10,000.
The mini tractor will have interchangeable tools and Mr Green plans to offer the whole service as a package. The farmer will contract the Kernow Robotics team to bring several of the robots to a field and oversee the process, without the farmer needing to be there or having to shell out for the robot itself.
Beginning with local challenges, the company will focus on how the machines can help Cornish daffodil growers, before looking into options on livestock farms. Mr Green explained: “We will discover more uses for the machines; for livestock we have researched monitoring which could be used for calving or lambing. The robot will be able to identify when an animal is in labour and send a message to the farmer in case it needs assistance.
“I’m really focussing on local problems and helping local farmers – I hope to make a real difference to the future of Cornish farming.”
Mr Green brought Kernow Robotics to fruition after gaining experience of fruit picking robots when working with Fieldwork Robotics at the University of Plymouth. Last month, the spin-out tech company announced it has raised a total of £675,000 to support the development of its flexible agricultural robot technology for harvesting soft fruit and vegetables.
The proceeds, generated through an equity fundraising from existing and new investors, will allow Fieldwork Robotics to accelerate the scale up of a raspberry harvesting robot and bring it to market. It also means that the company is able to embark on the development of a cauliflower harvesting robot in collaboration with Bonduelle, one of the world’s largest vegetable producers.
The technology’s potential has already been recognised by Government body Innovate UK, which awarded the company a £547,250 Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund grant in November 2018 to acceler
ate development, part of a £671,484 project with partners including the University of Plymouth and the National Physical Laboratory.
It is just this type of support that the region’s rural businesses need, said Susan Davy, Chief Executive of Pennon - the key backer of the Western Morning News #BackTheSouthWest Campaign and the wider Great South West movement.
She said: “The South West is already home to thousands of rural businesses and the shift to virtual working means that many of them will have new opportunities to innovate and grow. As one of the largest companies in the region and the supplier of vital infrastructure, we are committed to helping these businesses to grow and succeed.
“For existing rural businesses to grow and new ones to be founded, we need to unlock our region’s potential with improved digital and transport infrastructure. The South West can be seen as the best place to come and set up an innovative new business, not just to visit on holiday, delivering new and better paid jobs for the people that call it home.”
Away from the fields, one Cornish software company is revolutionising the way in which website search tools can be used by farming businesses and organisations - better connecting farmers with the information they need.
Recognising the barriers for an industry trying to keep pace with digital advances, SimSage has developed a downloadable plug-in website search function, which uses artificial intelligence to understand agriculture’s specialised, but completely natural, language.
“In industry, natural language is the use and interpretation of words and phrases that are specific to that sector,” said Sean Wilson, managing director and co-founder of SimSage, based in Truro.
“Type AI into any popular search engine and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ will dominate the search results received – even when it is combined with the word ‘agriculture’ – but standard search functions aren’t configured to the broad range of agricultural language.”
The development comes as, when looking at farmers’ web use, Duchy College’s Rural Business School (RBS) found that farmers are online to find important information, with Government websites most frequent in those searches. Finding information is often hindered by inadequate search engines – participants say they want a ‘Farmers Google’.
With the help of grant funding through Agri-Tech Cornwall and the Cornwall Development Company, SimSage has brought in a range of partners to speed up the roll-out of this technology, including Farming Health Hub to enable greater access to information covering multiple farming topics from a wide range of sources, in one place.
Mr Wilson added: “Ordinarily, the more information there is, the more complicated and time consuming a search can become, but the plugin simplifies all that. Once configured, the plug-in uses artificial intelligence to understand farming language and searches, from which frequently asked questions can be automated.
This means farmers can type in a question or keywords into the Hub’s search tool and quickly find specific information, no matter how they pose their query.”
Business websites are not intuitive; most are company-centric rather than customer-centric, said Mr Wilson. “They might be industry relevant and look great, but still not have the pathways in place to make information on the site easy to find. Global market research provider IDC says 25-30% of the working day is spent trying to find information.
“A significant proportion of farmers’ time online is therefore wasted – even when technology is supposed to be increasing efficiency and freeing up time for farm work.”
In the dairy sector, a key cog in the region’s rural economy, a Somersetbased company has been awarded a £15,000 bursary to research and recommend a net zero roadmap for the entire British dairy industry.
The Dairy Group was selected by the Trehane Trust to coordinate the 12-month research project to provide a blueprint for producers to meet the Government’s target of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
The privately owned Tauntonbased dairy consultancy business, will report its findings to the Trehane Trust, and the wider dairy industry.
Diana Allen, chair of the Trehane Trust, said: “We feel confident that with the expertise within its team and its UK and international contacts, as well as its national network of dairy clients, The Dairy Group can deliver on this.
“We are looking for wellresearched and realistic pointers for producers and their advisers, as they look to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and promote more sustainable and efficient dairy businesses, and in doing so, meet the Government’s net-zero targets. This must not be a report destined for a shelf, but one that will provide a catalyst in our mission towards net zero.”
The Dairy Group will use its findings to make recommendations aimed at measuring and reducing carbon emissions on farms – both practically and profitably.
‘For existing rural businesses to grow we need to unlock our potential’ SUSAN DAVY, PENNON GRP