INS IGHT to AI in UK AgriTech - 2021 and beyond Make money work for you - Barclays

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INS IGHT to AI in UK AgriTech - 2021 and beyond Make money work for you - Barclays
INS
  IGHT
 to AI in UK AgriTech
  2021 and beyond
  Make money work for you
INS IGHT to AI in UK AgriTech - 2021 and beyond Make money work for you - Barclays
AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Contents
03 Executive summary                                           32 UK AgriTech Trailblazers
                                                                   Agrimetrics – The UK’s data marketplace
05 Introduction
                                                               33 UK AgriTech Trailblazers
06 Foreword                                                        Small Robot Company – A leading robotics innovator

07 UK Agriculture                                              34 UK AgriTech Trailblazers
    The importance of tech in securing competitive advantage
                                                                   Bedfordia Farms – Looking to take the next steps in data integration

16 UK AgriTech                                                 35 UK AgriTech Trailblazers
    How can we enable agriculture 4.0 in the UK?
                                                                   Hands-Free Hectare – The future of farming?

31 UK AgriTech                                                 36 What have we learned?
    DroneAg – One of UK AgriTech’s drone pioneers
                                                                   Summary and recommendations

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Executive summary
Smart Tech is fundamental to                                   The UK can be at the forefront of                                 Pinpoint the use case then build
securing UK Agriculture’s future                               innovation and implementation                                     the tech
Leveraging technology effectively is critical in unlocking     The UK boasts world-class technology and research                 Technologies offering immediately apparent solutions to
opportunities – whether productivity, profitability or         capabilities, and is the global leader in the development of AI   known issues – and that ‘fit’ with existing infrastructure,
sustainability-related – that will be critical in securing a   enabled solutions.                                                hardware or processes – are ‘easy wins’. AI-enabled sensor
robust future for UK Agriculture.                                                                                                tech is delivering critical data to farmers from devices
                                                               Organisations such as the Small Robot Company, the UK’s           increasingly simple to implement, visualised in increasingly
While UK farmers are beginning to appreciate the many ways     leading ag robotics firm, which has developed the world’s first   simple and impactful ways, and it is no surprise to see
in which emerging technologies can deliver better outcomes     weeding bot; Drone Ag, simplifying drone tech for the sector;     increasingly widespread adoption.
– more efficient use of resources; more productive use of      and the Hands Free Hectare project are pushing innovation
their time – there remain profound barriers that need cross-   forward at pace.                                                  Other IoT or data solutions need to be matched more closely
industry collaborative solutions.                                                                                                to farmers’ needs, behaviours and – just as importantly – to
                                                               Solutions that can readily be integrated into core processes      be adaptable to different environments. And furthermore,
Costs of adoption; return on investment; and fitness for       can help to ensure farms such as Applegarth, which is             to have clearly evident – and ideally demonstrable – return
purpose are all challenges that must be addressed – and can    successfully leveraging a range of Precision Ag technologies,     on investment. Small Robot Company is one developer that
be addressed – to put UK Ag on track for the next decade.      will in future be the rule rather than the exception.             is beginning to drive out positive examples in this respect.
                                                                                                                                 Others should follow, ideally in collaboration with farmers to
                                                                                                                                 ensure innovation is targeted effectively.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Executive summary
Data will be at the core of tech                                  Key steps to accelerate adoption
solutions in 2021 and beyond                                      Knowledge sharing between farmers, leading industry bodies
                                                                  and technologists is critical in ensuring that innovation is
The explosion of data in the last ten years and more is already
                                                                  directed towards practical challenges; and that farmers are
arming farmers with key insights with which to optimise
                                                                  made aware of the possibilities that technology can unlock.
process and outcomes. But the next wave of data innovation
                                                                  Hands-Free Hectare is an exemplar in this respect.
must go further.

                                                                  Support mechanisms such as the Countryside Productivity
With greater commonality in taxonomy and platforming
                                                                  Small Grants programme must be fully funded on a long-
must come fully integrated datasets capable of feeding
                                                                  term basis to ensure that farmers are not penalised for early
ML-enabled algorithms capable of unpicking complex
                                                                  adoption of emerging tech.
interdependencies and pinpointing solutions.

                                                                  Finally and perhaps most fundamentally, tech needs to
Bringing evidence, analysis, conclusions and
                                                                  deliver practicable, workable broad-spectrum solutions
recommendations for solutions to life simply and visually
                                                                  rather than disparate IoT components that are additive only
is the last piece of the puzzle, enabling farmers to make
                                                                  within a very narrow scope and are often ill-suited to the
mission-critical decisions quickly and confidently. Providers
                                                                  rigours of UK farms and climate.
such as Agrimetrics are beginning to bring this utopia to life,
but would acknowledge that much needs to happen to allow
the industry to transition to that point.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Introduction
Total global agricultural                                        At the vanguard of developments in this
                                                                 context is the emergence of technologies
production has tripled in                                        enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI),
the last 60 years, outpacing                                     Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning
                                                                 (DL), Robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT)
even the huge increase                                           and Cloud Computing. These technologies,
– from 3B to more than                                           already underpinning some of the most
7B – in the number of                                            fundamental changes in agricultural working
                                                                 practices seen in a century and more, will
mouths the industry must                                         shape UK farms’ and farmers’ futures.
feed. Technology played                                          Leveraging these technologies effectively

its part in our enhanced                                         will separate the winners and losers,
                                                                 domestically and internationally.
ability to feed ourselves, but
deforestation and intensive                                      This report, which leverages both in-person
                                                                 and quantitative data from samples of UK
farming played more.                                             farmers, technologists and industry experts
                                                                 conducted by our research partner Illuminas
Now, as UN1 estimates of the increases
                                                                 in Summer and Autumn 2020, explores the
required to meet global demand in 2050
                                                                 challenges facing UK farmers at a pivotal
range up to 150% of current production,
                                                                 time for the industry. It discusses the pace of
and the agricultural sector is challenged to
                                                                 change in the sector; examines some of the
build a more sustainable industry for the
                                                                 most exciting developments in agricultural
next century, it is axiomatic that technology
                                                                 technology in the UK today and tomorrow;
must play a leading role in our efforts to
                                                                 and seeks to identify routes through
build better. We must be resourceful, and
                                                                 which UK Farming can achieve sustainable
resource-conscious, to prosper in the
                                                                 competitive advantage through unlocking
challenging times that face the sector in
                                                                 some of the benefits of these technologies.
2020 and beyond.

1
    Creating a Sustainable Food Future Final Report, July 2019
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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Foreword
“Agriculture has for centuries evolved and
moved forward, the rate of change in the
second half of the last century begin to pick
                                                 Agri-tech is becoming
up pace and in the last decade, that change      big business in
has gathered an unstoppable momentum.
                                                 farming. We’re seeing
The change global agriculture will witness       more and more farms
in the coming decade I believe will be breath-   improving productivity
taking. The drive towards greater farming
efficiency to ensure UK agriculture maintains    and efficiency with
its position at the forefront of global          tech.”
production for traceability, welfare and
quality, also driven by the UK farming target    Mark Suthern
for achieving Net Zero by 2040 will
see rapid and exciting times ahead.
                                                 National Head of
This report highlights some of the great         Agriculture, Barclays UK
innovation, the direction of travel and how
Agri-tech is being employed in real farm
situations to reach our goals as an industry
in the coming years.”

Mark Suthern
National Head of Agriculture
Barclays UK

Roxanne Martin
Eagle Lab AgriTech Industry Lead
Barclays UK

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

UK Agriculture
The importance of tech in securing
competitive advantage

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INS IGHT to AI in UK AgriTech - 2021 and beyond Make money work for you - Barclays
AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

The eye of the storm
As UK Agriculture looks to       The issues impacting UK Agriculture

build a more sustainable
model going forward, it             How are we going
faces a range of headwinds          to continue to be
– geopolitical, (macro)             profitable? That is the                                          Tech investment             Post Brexit
economic, regulatory                driver for everything                                                                        trade deal
– that will shape the               that we do … I think
fortunes of the industry            farms will operate in
for a generation and more.          a very different way
The industry’s ability to           over the coming years.
                                                                               2040 Net Zero                   UK Agri-Business in                   Coronavirus
respond to these seismic            The challenges are                                                          2020 and beyond
shifts will require innovative      going to be forced
thinking, and innovation in         upon us. We are going
business practices.                 to have to change.”
                                    Ian Rudge
                                    Bedfordia Farms                                      Sustainable                                       Provisions of the
                                                                                         Agriculture                                         Ag Bill 2021

                                                                                                                Productivity growth

                                                                       Source: Illuminas Research (2020)

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

The eye of the storm
Meeting these challenges will require UK Farming to shift
from ‘vicious’ to ‘virtuous’ cyclical behaviours.
                                                                     The Future of the EU-UK Relationship

                                                                     88%
                                                                                        of UK farmers believe uncertainty around the trade deal/CAP provision is impacting significantly on
In order to survive in a highly volatile market and deal with
                                                                                        their businesses
the variation in yields, weakening condition of resources
and increased crop resistance, farmers have historically             Impact of COVID
tended to adopt or persist with farming practices which
have maximised yields in the short term, but which have led,
however inadvertently, to grave depletion of natural resources       47%                of UK farmers believe their businesses have been negatively impacted by the ongoing pandemic
in the long term.
                                                                     The UK Agricultural Bill

                                                                     79%
However, the priority amongst UK farmers today is to use
available inputs more effectively and efficiently. This is part of                      believe increasing environmental oversight and regulation is impacting significantly on their farm
a broader shift towards a virtuous cycle of lower costs, more
sustainable land use and – ultimately – greater productivity         Productivity challenges
and profitability.

                                                                     64%
                                                                                        of UK farmers are prioritising improving productivity, increasing output and/or farming smarter
                                                                                        going forward

                                                                     Sustainability

                                                                     82%                of UK farmers believe improving the sustainability of farming and restoring soil health is fundamental

                                                                     Climate change and 2040 Net Zero

                                                                     90%
                                                                                        of UK farmers believe climate change and the NFU’s revised Paris target is impacting significantly on
                                                                                        their farm

                                                                     Innovation and new farming methods

                                                                     45%
                                                                                        of UK farmers have invested (30%), or are planning to invest (15%), in emerging tech to fuel
                                                                                        process innovation

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

UK Farming must adapt quickly, putting technology
at the heart of its response

                                                                                                           “We believe here that
                                                                                    53%
                          of UK farmers are prioritising increasing productivity and/or output/yield
                                                                                                           the only way we are
                                                                                                           going to be able to
                                                                                                           produce enough food
                                                                                                           to feed the UK – as

       Farmers’
                                                                                    58%
                                                 are prioritising achieving material cost efficiencies
                                                                                                           well as the wider world
                                                                                                           – is to use science
  strategic priorities                                                                                     and technology.”

                                                                                    48%
                                               are prioritising farming smarter and more efficiently
                                                                                                           Tony Bambridge
                                                                                                           B & C Farming

                                                                                     51%
                         are prioritising reducing wastage/environmental impact and/or soil health

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

UK Farming must adapt quickly, putting technology
at the heart of its response
Improved productivity is fundamental to the    UK Farmers are beginning to appreciate the
UK industry’s longer-term competitiveness,     pivotal role of technology in farming smarter
indeed to its financial sustainability, with   and more productively.
                                                                                                                            11%                 “Our focus is on
UK Farming’s productivity lagging that of                                                                                                       wasting less and not
                                               Investment in systems and solutions to
EU competitors by sometimes considerable
                                               enable greater productivity has to date
                                                                                                                                                growing too much.
margins. Technology-related issues are often
posited as some of the most fundamental        has been relatively limited, with only 11%                                                       Reducing waste is
in creating and maintaining the UK’s           having prioritised in the past. But two in five                                                  the main thing. It’s
competitive disadvantage.                      farms plan to invest to unlock the greater
                                               efficiencies in their operations.                                                      40%       expensive and by
•   Educational/skills gaps;                                                                                                                    being more efficient
                                               UK farmers recognise the fundamental
•   Limited intra-industry sharing of
                                               importance of farming smarter to longer-
                                                                                                                                                (with your inputs) you
    best practice;
                                               term sustainability, both environmentally                                                        are able to cut a lot of
•   Lagging other countries in data
    generation and analysis and
                                               and commercially. With only 36% of UK
                                                                                                                                                it out.”
                                               land croppable and estimates suggesting
    modelling capabilities;
                                               that high-intensity farming techniques have             Have invested in AgriTech to achieve
•   Disconnects between innovation strategy    depleted our arable land of c. 50% of its         increases in productivity
                                                                                                                                                Patrick Allpress
    and funding and farmers needs;             organic content, action is imperative.                                                           Allpress Farms
•   Slow deployment of connectivity                                                                    Will invest in AgriTech to achieve
    (FTTP; 5G).                                                                                  increases in productivity

                                                                   54%
of UK farmers that are prioritising improved productivity believe tech
investment is fundamental to addressing this challenge
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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Tech-enabled smarter farming has the potential to unlock
the advantages UK Farming desperately needs
More efficient resource allocation is critical
to manage costs, improve productivity,

                                                                                                                                                        59%
reduce environmental impact and –
ultimately – farm smarter. The Circular
Agriculture model at the heart of the
revolution transforming farming in the             of UK farmers that are prioritising farming smarter believe tech investment can be material in achieving those goals
Netherlands recognises that productivity
centred on improved resource efficiency
will result in increased productivity with
concomitant environmental benefits.
                                                                                                                                                        43%
                                                                   of UK farmers that are prioritising farming smarter have invested in technologies to help them do so
Effective use of technology will be critical
to unlocking these benefits, and there
is recognition – albeit among only one-
half of UK Farmers – that tech can play
a central role in achieving efficiencies in
resource utilisation.
                                                                                                                                                        46%
                                                 of UK farmers that are prioritising farming smarter plan to invest in technologies to help them do so in the near future

                                                                                                                                                        52%
                                                             of UK farmers prioritising more efficient resource allocation believe tech investment is central to doing so

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Tech-enabled smarter farming has the potential to unlock
the advantages UK farming desperately needs
Circular agriculture            urce optimisation                                                                            One-third of farmers have claimed already
                            Reso                                                                                             to have made investments in technologies to
                                                                                 “We need to make our                        enable more efficient use of resources, with
                                                                                 farm sustainable for                        a further 40% planning to do so in 2021–23.

                                 feed                                            the next generation,
                                                                                 and the ones
                                                                                 after that.”                                                                 32%

                                                                                 Ian Rudge
                                                                                 Bedfordia Farmsg
                                                        produce

              grow                                                                                                                                            40%

                                                                             Evidence of the relationship between
                                                                             technology and better and more sustainable
                 y
             vit

                                                                 Su

                                                                             outcomes is irrefutable; and many UK
                                                                                                                                  Have invested in AgriTech to enable
           ti

                                                                   st
        uc

                                                                             Farmers – although not all – appear to
                                                                                                                             smarter resource utilisation
                                                                     a
      od

                                                                      ina

                                        recycle                              recognize the importance of continuing
     r

                                                                         b
    p

                                                    le
                       ed                              fa                    to invest, and to innovate. Technologists            Will invest in AgriTech to enable
                     nc                                  rm
                   ha                                      ing               looking to drive greater engagement within      smarter resource utilisation
                 En                                                          the farming community must, it seems clear,
                                                                             put sustainable impact on productivity at the
                                                                             heart of their messages.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

There is an emerging core of tech-enabled UK farmers
that are building for the future
Leading the charge                             Planned investment in emerging agricultural technologies

Data from recent survey work shines a
light on a core group of UK farmers that
are looking to emerging AgriTech to build
more sustainable businesses and set the
foundations for commercial success; with
another 14% that are focusing instead on
embedding existing tech investment before
prioritising further investments. However,
55% have no plans to look to technology. Is
this group in danger of being left behind?

                                                                          31%
                                              of UK farmers plan to invest in new, emerging
                                                                                                                       14%
                                                                                              do not plan to invest in AgriTech but have
                                                                                                                                                                     55%
                                                                                                                                              have never invested in advanced AgriTech
                                                   technologies to ensure business success       done so in the past to realise priorities       and have no immediate plans to do so

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

There is an emerging core of tech-enabled UK farmers
that are building for the future
Planned investment in emerging agricultural technologies

                   are more aggressive, more entrepreneurial                                      are farms typically comfortable with the various          “We need to make
                   farm businesses.                                                               applications of AI and emerging tech.
                                                                                                                                                            money, but we need
                   Often led by younger farmers, more comfortable                                 These businesses are currently looking to embed           to do it in the right
                   with technology and more likely to see tech as                                 existing inventory/investments, and to realise ROI on     way and in line with
                   offering a genuine competitive advantage if                                    those, before committing to new investments.
                   leveraged effectively.                                                                                                                   legislation and public
                                                                                                                                                            sentiment. Whatever
                                                                                                                                                            technology can assist
     AgriTech is part of Applegarth Farm’s DNA. A adherent of                         Central to the strategy of Bedfordia Farms is optimised
                                                                                                                                                            with that, we’re buying
     vertical farming, 2021 will see the go-live of its 6,000 sq. ft                  productivity and resource management; and its tech strategy           into it.”
     aeroponic greenhouse programme, to add to the array of                           has been focused to that end. For 2021, it has prioritised
     existing sensor and robotic technologies the farm deploys.                       its partnership with Agrimetrics to rationalise its array of          Ian Rudge
                                                                                      different field, soil and yield mapping platforms to provide
     Tech has enabled every phase of Applegarth’s growth to                           more coherent and consistent analysis rather than planning
                                                                                                                                                            Bedfordia Farms
     date, and its commitment to ongoing investment is central to                     fresh investments.
     its competitive strategy going forward.

                                    Two businesses following different paths, but each in their own way leaders, illustrate
                                    some of the opportunities that tech-oriented Agribusinesses are looking to unlock as
                                    they align their businesses to compete in the next decade and beyond. The potential
                                    of AI to be pivotal in doing so is only just beginning to be apparent.

Source: Illuminas Research (2020)
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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

UK AgriTech
How can we enable agriculture 4.0 in the UK?

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

AI will transform UK agriculture forever
Farmers are only just beginning to recognise the transformative         actions to take; or in the application and delivery of solutions at
potential of AI in its various applications, ranging across different   source, AI is already changing the way farmers work. And yet we have
innovations in every component part of agricultural systems. Whether    only begun to unlock its potential. Farms in future may as closely
in real time detection of developing issues; in rapid and accurate      resemble open-air laboratories as they will the farms of today.
diagnosis of those issues; in determining the most appropriate

          Detection                                   Diagnosis                              Determination                                        Delivery

UK AgriTech commands a set of baseline capabilities that is the         challenges in bringing these technologies to life within a sector which
equal of any in the Netherlands, the US or other highly developed       has been described as the least digitised in the world today. Is this
agricultural nations; and the Department of Trade has been active       characterisation justified? And if so, what must be done to ensure UK
in promoting the nation’s Ag and AI, Robotics and Autonomous            farmers are not left behind in the AI arms race?
Systems research as world-class. However, there remain many

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Advanced AI-enabled systems are beginning to make
their way out of the labs and into the fields
There is an increasingly broad
range of technologies becoming        Detection                             Diagnosis                          Determination                        Delivery
available which offer the potential   Using techniques                      Advanced data                      Harnessing the power                 Automated solutions
fundamentally to transform the        such as image                         analytics, using                   of AI to determine the               such as advanced
farms of today into the farms of      processing, soil nutrient             a range of inputs from on          most appropriate solutions           robotics, able to undertake
the future.                           monitoring and crop and               and off-farm data resources,       to complex problems and – in         complex and precise tasks
                                      animal health scanning to             providing real-time diagnoses      the future – allowing farmers        that until now have required
There are however a range of          detect problems often invisible       of complex problems.               to outsource decisions to tak        manual intervention.
challenges in harnessing the          to the naked eye.                                                        action.
power of AI in the agricultural                                             Analytics solutions from                                                The UK’s leading ag robotics
sector, some of which are, research   Next-gen sensor tech from             GlasData and Diometer              Research at CHAP using ML            firm, Small Robot Company,
confirms, impeding broader            firms such as Arable are multi-       offering seamless integration      to build a thinking machine          has developed a robot capable
adoption and preventing the           functional and can seamlessly         of data from different providers   capable of recommending              of plant-by-plant care and the
sector from accessing some of         integrate with ML-enabled             and platforms.                     optimal biological                   world’s first weeding bot.
the competitive advantages it so      decision-making systems.                                                 treatments strategies.
                                                                            Telemetric tools able to                                                Ongoing development of
desperately needs.                    Drone Automation, in                  enable the location and            John Innes Centre developing a       Autonomous Agri Vehicles by
                                      development at DroneAg,               baseline problem diagnoses for     low-cost solution for automated      HandsFree Hectare Project in
                                      will offer full automation of         equipment and livestock.           seed imaging and ML-based            the UK and Bear Flag Robotics
                                      collection, analysis, and remote                                         phenotypic analysis of               and others in the US.
                                      transfer of data to farmers in                                           crop germination.
                                                                                                                                                    The Ceres AgriTech venture
                                      real time.
                                                                                                               ML-driven neural networks from       to improve outdoor robotic
                                      Leading industrial Drone                                                 GlasData able to understand          capabilities in terms of: speed
                                      developer American Robotics is                                           the interrelationships between       of performance; accuracy and
                                      bringing automated Drone and                                             soil, climatic, biological           reliability of image processing;
                                      IoT Sensor platforms to market,                                          and other inputs to provide          haptics to enable soft-
                                      offering full integration of aerial                                      recommendations for                  harvesting capabilities; ability to
                                      imaging data and in-field sensor                                         yield optimization.                  perform in a range of conditions
                                      biometrics.                                                                                                   on-farm.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

AI-based tech has yet to achieve widespread adoption
AI-enabled AgriTech remains some way from seeing wide-scale   Barriers remain profound, with cost (perceived or actual, depending on           Without measures to protect
implementation on UK farms, as evidenced below.               experience) the most significant factors. Data from Defra’s Farm Business        farmers from very considerable
                                                              Income Survey indicates that, across sector, profitability declined between      swings in costs, only a minority
Current adoption of AI-enabled AgriTech                       8.5%-17%* to FYE2019, with YoY changes over the last 15 years ranging            of highly profitable – or highly
                                                              from +40% to -36%. Farm profitability is more than usually subject to            geared – farms are likely to
                                                              volatility, and reducing the sector’s exposure to swings in input costs and,     continue to support investment in
                                                              where possible, to output yields, is a priority for industry lobbyists and       emerging tech.
21% Sensors (EW)                                              trade bodies.
                                                                                                                                               Against this backdrop, many
                                                              Barriers to adoption of AI-enabled AgriTech                                      farmers consider themselves
16% Sensors (Crop health)                                                                                                                      as simply incapable of making
                                                                                                                                               the very significant investments
                                                              Capex costs too high                                                   56%
                                                                                                                                               required to unlock the benefits
9% Drones                                                                                                                                      of AI; many others – including
                                                              Total costs too high                                                   49%       36% of adopters in our survey
                                                                                                                                               – are uncertain as to whether
9% Data analytics                                             Maintenance costs
                                                                                                                                     35%
                                                                                                                                               that investment can, or will
                                                              high/uncertain                                                                   be, recouped. The onus is on
                                                                                                                                               technologists and providers to
                                                              RoI is uncertain                                                       35%
4% Field robots (Collection)                                                                                                                   bring the benefits to life and
                                                                                                                                               to ensure that propositions are
                                                                                                                                               available that meet the needs and
                                                              Doubts over material benefits                                          31%
                                                                                                                                               the budgets of UK farmers.
0% Field robots (Monitoring)
                                                              Tech is unfit for purpose in
                                                                                                                                     26%
                                                              current form
8% Autonomous sprayers                                        Prefer to rely on own
                                                                                                                                     17%
                                                              judgement/intuition

0% Autonomous vehicles                                        Negative feedback from peers                                           14%

Source: Illuminas Research (2020)                             Source: Illuminas Research (2020)                                      Previous | 19 | Next page
AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

           The benefits of AI-enabled tech are considerable, but                                                                                                            There are a range of issues around
                                                                                                                                                                            which all parties need to converge
                                                                                                                                                                            to ensure that the benefits of
           the barriers are – for many farmers – no less profound                                                                                                           Ai-enabled AgriTech can be
                                                                                                                                                                            fully realised.

           Detection                                         Diagnosis                                         Determination                                    Delivery
           •   Precision Agriculture (enabling resource      •   Greater oversight of farming activity and     •   Widest possible set of inputs                •   Automation of time and labour-intensive
               and cost efficiencies and gains in yield          status of fields, crops, etc.                 •   Ability to understand and identify               farming tasks
               / output)                                     •   Digitisation of inputs, outputs, and/             complex causal relationships                 •   ‘Always on’ source of labour
Benefits

           •   ‘Always on’ crop, plant, soil and/or animal       or financials                                 •   Replaces intuition with evidence-            •   Increased productivity, efficiency
               health monitoring capability                  •   Evidence-based, rather than intuition-            based solutions                                  and output
           •   Greater, and more efficient,                      based, decision-making                        •   Integrating problem identification to        •   Frees up time to concentrate on business
               farm coverage                                                                                       solutions implementation                         management/strategy

           •   Greater availability of ‘all in one’          •   Availability of platforms able to automate                    In development                                  In development
               solutions comprising predictive                   data collection irrespective of device        •   Potential ‘accelerators’ include             •   Potential ‘accelerators’ include:
               capabilities (Sensors)                            type/app/provider
                                                                                                                   –   Consolidation of disparate                   –   Greater investment in R&D to enable
           •   Launch of fully automated systems             •   Simple, smart and easy platform UX                    data sources                                     the development of tools able to
Enablers

               and legislation enabling their                •   Analytical tools which can identify the                                                                deploy outside of lab conditions
                                                                                                                   –   Agreement of industry benchmarks
               adoption (Drones)                                 impact of farming activity on output/
                                                                                                                   –   Cross-team working groups (end-              –   Cross-team working groups to
           •   Detection capabilities superior to the            yield, resource usage and profitability                                                                develop fit for purpose soft harvesting
                                                                                                                       users; technologists; institutions) to
               naked eye                                                                                                                                                executions
                                                                                                                       direct innovation to most directly
                                                                                                                       applicable areas                             –   Greater availability of ‘Farming as a
                                                                                                                                                                        Service’ propositions

           •   Lack of ‘all in one’ solutions able to        •   Limited platform interconnectivity/cross-     •   Insufficient data inputs (range of           •   Insufficient data
               predict issues                                    compatibility                                     variables/quality of data/time series        •   No commonly agreed data taxonomy/
           •   Incompatibility with existing on-site         •   Limited integration with existing on-             datasets)                                        benchmarks
               data platforms                                    farm tech                                     •   No commonly agreed data taxonomy             •   Outputs based on ‘partial picture’ data
Barriers

           •   Time/labour required to manage (Drones)       •   Poor platform UX                                  / benchmarks                                     lack face validity
           •   Human ability to detect issues by             •   Face validity of data                         •   Outputs based on ‘partial picture’ data
               ‘walking the fields’ and solutions require                                                          lack face validity
                                                             •   Outputs describe the ’state of play’ rather
               human intervention                                than inform ‘direction of travel’
                                                             •   Requires farmers to be ‘in the office’
                                                                 rather than out on farm

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Use of sensors and drone tech for problem detection
is growing, but challenges remain
The benefits of sensor and drone
technologies are increasingly widely
recognised but adoption remains relatively
narrow at present, and there are tech and
commercial challenges to overcome to
broaden adoption of technologies which are
key enablers of Precision Agriculture.

Although the benefits can be significant,
with faster detection of emerging issues
and greater precision in solutions offering
often significant delta improvements in
                                                 Awareness           75%              77%
resource utilisation, many farmers remain
unconvinced that the tech is fit for purpose,
or that it can in fact provide time, labour or
                                                 Currently use,
                                                                     65%              57%
cost savings.
                                                 or would consider

                                                 Currently use       27%                9%

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Use of sensors and drone tech for problem detection                                                                                          “Thanks to the Yara

is growing, but challenges remain                                                                                                            N-Sensor we are seeing
                                                                                                                                             areas of the field which are
                                                                                                                                             struggling and need input,
                                                                                                                                             so with a better sprayer
                                                                                                                                             we’re making better use
Benefits   Always on                     Precision                     Process efficiencies          Smarter farming
                                                                                                                                             of the product having
           •   Detection tech            •   Detect issues (pests,     •   Greater, and more         •   Generates time
               generates data which          disease, poor growth,         efficient, coverage of        series plots which                  made the decision to use it
               enables users to              etc.) and to deploy           any given farm’s land         enable farmers to                   based on the data.”
               remotely monitor the          solutions (fertilisers,       area than ‘walking            understand impact
               health of crops/plants,       herbicides, etc.)             the fields’                   of farming activity                 JJ Ibbett
               soils and/or animals          precisely                                                   on growth rates and
               in real-time and                                                                                                              Bedfordia Farms
                                         •   Reductions in resource                                      identify activities
               24/7/365                      usage and waste, cost                                       with greatest positive
                                             efficiencies, and gains                                     impact on yield (e.g.
                                             in yield/output                                             varietals; rotations;
                                                                                                         treatments; etc.)

Barriers   Deployment costs              Return on investment          Lack of predictive
                                                                       capability
                                                                                                     Technical issues
           •   Complexity/diversity      •   Little evidence exists                                  •   Require human
               of farm businesses            of the link between       •   The value-add of              operation and training              “We got a Drone and to a
               require multitude of          investment and                insights derived is                                               degree it helped but you
                                                                                                     •   Limited battery life and
               sensors (limited multi-       material gains in             limited to confirmation       risk of motor failure               still have to interpret the
               function availability)        output/yield; and             of issues – which                                                 pictures. Our agronomist
                                                                                                     •   Legislative implications
           •   Sophisticated drones          that which does is not        farmers can detect by
                                                                                                         of drones unclear                   looked at the problematic
               (multi-spectral/              compelling                    ‘walking the fields’ –
                                                                           rather than revelation    •   Time/labour intensive               ones and said ‘I’ll go and
               thermal imaging;
                                                                           of future ones                to operate                          have a look’. He may as
               thermal and/or hyper-
               spectral sensors;                                                                                                             well have done that in the
               image processing                                                                                                              first place!”
               capabilities) can cost
               tens of thousands                                                                                                             Tony Bambridge
               of pounds
                                                                                                                                             B & C Farming

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There are a range of different solutions that can                                                                                                                                                       There are a range of issues to address
                                                                                                                                                                                                        which, if addressed, can be potentially
                                                                                                                                                                                                        transformative in driving broader and
enable greater deployment of detection tech                                                                                                                                                             deeper adoption.

 Challenges Solutions                                                                                        Benefits                                                                                    Impact on uptake
 Core                       •    Multifunction detection devices, such as integrated                         •    More consistent UX across different functions                                          •    Potentially considerable if
 functionality                   crop/plant and soil health sensors and drones                               •    Simplified procurement process                                                              pricing model and tariffs are
                            •    ‘All in one’ devices able to monitor crop/plant growth,                                                                                                                      sufficiently compelling
                                                                                                             •    Time/labour efficiency (obviates the need for farmers to ‘walk
                                 soil moisture, pests and disease, etc.                                           the fields’)
                            •    Sensitivity of detection beyond the human eye/farmer’s                      •    Ability to operate in rural areas with low broadband speeds
                                 own experience
                                                                                                             •    Automated production of comprehensive data sets which are
                            •    Telemetric functionality for auto measurement and                                easy-to-use and manage
                                 transmission of data between device platforms.

 Device inter-              •    Devices which use standardised data architecture and                        •    Automated data entry into a centralised platform                                       •    Potentially value-additive
 operability                     taxonomy                                                                    •    Integrated data analysis                                                                    provided platform UX engages
                            •    Develop an ‘open source’ culture to enable technologists                    •    Time/labour efficiency (avoids manual entry/management of
                                 to add value and disrupt the monopolisation of larger                            multi platforms)
                                 firms’ propriety software

 Platform                   •    Platform able to predict issues based on the health                         •    Optimisation of resource utilisation                                                   •    Potentially game-changing if
 integration                     profile of any given crop/plant, soil and/or animal                         •    Reduction in waste                                                                          insights can be validated
                            •    Ability to diagnose underlying causes of issues                             •    Increased yield/output
                            •    Ability to recommend potential actions to address issues                    •    Improved profitability

 Cost                       •    Multifunction detection devices (as above) to reduce                        •    Increased cost-efficiency                                                              •    Potentially considerable if
                                 cost per function                                                           •    Reduced inventory                                                                           pricing model and associated
                                                                                                                                                                                                              tariffs are sufficiently affordable

 Skills/                    •    Drones capable of autonomous/driverless operation                           •    Obviates the need for farmers to acquire skills in Drone operation                     •    Potentially value-additive
 educational gaps                (including automation)                                                      •    Time/labour efficiencies (obviates the need for farmers to ‘walk
                            •    Provision of clear and up-to-date legal/regulatory                               the fields’)
                                 guidelines on their use (Drones)                                            •    Clarifies legal/regulatory implications of their implementation

Cross-industry collaboration will be essential in addressing these challenges. Barclays aims to promote cross-industry collaboration with the launch of the Eagle Lab Farm in University of Lincoln, helping to build an established ecosystem of
AgriTech businesses dedicated to working with like- minded partners, and thereby creating a more sustainable farming industry for generations to come.

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There are a number of challenges to address
before farmers adopt a ‘data-first’ approach
There is at present no fully AI-enabled
analytics platform live in the UK, and what
minimal adoption of data solutions is evident
at present is limited to relatively simpler,
piecemeal solutions.

There are a number of potentially compelling
benefits to more effective AI-based data
tools, but feedback from experts and
technologists would suggest the industry is
some way from being capable of delivering
fully operational solutions.
                                                Awareness           57%

                                                Currently use,
                                                or would consider   53%

                                                Currently use       9%

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

There are a number of challenges to address
before farmers adopt a ‘data-first’ approach
                                                                                                                                                         “John Deere’s platform
                                                                                                                                                         (JD Link) has enabled us
                                                                                                                                                         to make more informed
Benefits   Digitisation of core farming    Enhanced monitoring and
                                           tracking capabilities
                                                                             Evidence-based
                                                                             decision making                                                             decisions about how to
           •   Enable farms to have a
               digital record of inputs,   •   Data analytic and             •   Ability to make decisions                                               cultivate a field based on
               outputs and financials          visualization tools enable        based on ‘hard’ data                                                    the data on it, rather than
           •   Enables farm managers           the farm to understand            rather than solely farmers’                                             just based on a 5-minute
               to better monitor and           the status of their fields,       own experience/intuition                                                kick-around.”
               manage core operations          crops/plants, soils, and/         (e.g. when/where and
                                               or animals                        what treatments; when/
           •   Integration with                                                                                                                          JJ Ibbett
                                           •   Enables historical/point in       where to plough, sow and
               procurement and                                                                                                                           Bedfordia Farms
                                               time comparisons                  harvest; fields, areas and/
               auditing processes
                                                                                 or animals to keep in/take
                                                                                 out of production; etc.)

Barriers   Lack of commercially
           available solutions
                                           Limited value-add                 Poor user experiences             Cultural
                                           •   Very limited evidence         •   No availability of unified    •   Farmers are neither
           •   No ML-driven insight and        of the impact of data             platform architectures            agronomists nor
               decision-recommendation         on decision-making at             able to work with multiple        data scientists                       “What we need is to see
               platform is yet                 present, with manifold            data inputs from different    •   Difficult to meld data and            the data brought together,
               (widely) available              frustrations over volume          devices, data sources, etc.       intuition or experience               and any gaps filled, to
                                               of data collected vs. value   •   Amount of data to analyse •       Significant upskilling                enable us to identify
                                               of data generated                 (“data overload”)                 across the industry                   the decisions that are
                                                                             •   Validity of data, data            is required                           increasing – or decreasing
                                                                                 errors, gaps, etc.
                                                                                                                                                         – the yield potential.”

                                                                                                                                                         JJ Ibbett
                                                                                                                                                         Bedfordia Farms

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There are a number of potential solutions to drive                                                                                                                                         The industry needs to move much more
                                                                                                                                                                                           quickly to agree standards for data integration
                                                                                                                                                                                           before material progress may be made.
greater engagement with data solutions
 Challenges Solutions                                                                                      Benefits                                                                          Impact on uptake
 Core                       •   Smart tools to enable farm managers to generate                            •    Provision of directional outputs, with visibility of the                     •   Potentially game-changing if data
 functionality                  simple, visually engaging, charts and which enable the                          rationale for direction(s) proposed                                              driven decisions lead to material gains
                                cross analysis of inputs, outputs and/or financials                        •    Measurable impact of changes to farming practices on                             in productivity and profitability
                            •   Ability to automate the categorisation of data sets and                         productivity and – ultimately – profitability                                •   A simple and light touch approach
                                to select/filter analyses                                                  •    Avoid ‘data overload’                                                            to diagnostic and predictive analysis
                            •   Algorithms to be based on agreed                                                                                                                                 that complements farmers’ existing
                                                                                                           •    To establish norms in crop/livestock health and
                                benchmarks parameters                                                                                                                                            experience and intuition
                                                                                                                development, etc.
                            •   Ability to target variables known to be deterministic                      •    Build more robust algorithms and produce more
                            •   Integration with ‘big data’ (national, regional and farm-                       consistent outputs through cross-industry partnerships
                                based datasets)

 Device inter-              •   Devices based upon a single standardised data                              •    Datasets with sufficient depth and breadth of data points                    •   Potentially value-additive provided
 operability                    architecture and taxonomy                                                       to be additive                                                                   platform UX engages
                                                                                                           •    Automation of data entry into a centralised platform
                                                                                                           •    Time/labour efficiency
                                                                                                           •    Reduced errors

 Platform                   •   Centralised platform able to integrate inputs from                         •    Ability for data outputs to be fed back to devices to enable                 •   Potentially transformative in terms of
 integration                    different providers                                                             autonomation of activity                                                         accuracy, transparency and efficiency
                            •   Smart platforms able to automate all data input and                        •    Data at the core of analysis and implementation, ensuring                        of process
                                gap-fill based on norms                                                         trackability across processes

 Cost                       •   Centralised platform (single cost)                                         •    Single licensing cost                                                        •   Potentially transformative assuming
                            •   Direct incentivisation of data sharing                                                                                                                           user experience is positive
                                (Agrimetrics model)

 Skills/                    •   Cost-effective remote education training programmes                        •    Upskilling UK Agriculture in tech best practice, increasing                  •   Fundamental to break down barriers
 educational gaps           •   Case studies/testimonials                                                       awareness and familiarity with solutions

The adoption of a unified data taxonomy, architecture and language are fundamental to unlocking the potential in data to revolutionise UK Farming. Barclays believe that only by working together towards a unified language can the industry
maximise the potential from data applications in future.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

Automation may be potentially game-changing
but technology is insufficiently developed
Automation is capable of unlocking
potentially significant advantages as UK
Agriculture looks to compete internationally
while facing labour shortages at home.

It is likely to be 2023 and beyond before the
beneficial impact of greater automation
is felt, absent regulatory reform and
significantly expedited development cycles.
There are currently many barriers to address.
                                                Awareness           76%              58%

                                                Currently use,
                                                or would consider   44%              39%

                                                Currently use       5%                 0%

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Automation may be potentially game-changing                                                                                               “Before the robots each

but technology is insufficiently developed                                                                                                cow averaged 9k litres per
                                                                                                                                          year. Now, with the robots,
                                                                                                                                          we’re getting 10.7k litres
                                                                                                                                          per cow, per year. We’ve
Benefits   Automation                    Productivity gains           Greater flexibility          Always-on labour                       increased our yield almost
                                                                                                                                          20% with the same
           •   Labour savings offer      •   Process automation       •   Relieving farmers from   •   With the industry
                                                                                                                                          number of cows, feed,
               the potential to be           driving increased            time/labour intensive        facing potentially very
                                                                                                                                          and acreage.”
               transformational              output/yield (in             tasks, and thereby           significant labour
                                             principle or in              providing greater            shortages post Brexit,
                                                                                                                                          Will Griffiths
                                             practice), for example       flexibility in task          robots provide a
                                                                                                                                          Blaencorse Farm
                                             robotic milking              management                   24/7/365 alternative
                                             machines enabling        •   Allows farmers to            to domestic or
                                             cows to be milked            move from ‘working           overseas workers
                                             more frequently,             in’ their businesses
                                             increasing output            to ‘working on’ their
                                             and providing                businesses                                                      “Today’s robots can only
                                             demonstrable ROI
                                                                                                                                          deal with controlled
                                                                                                                                          environments such as
Barriers   Deployment costs              Operability                  Cultural                     Legal                                  glasshouses where the
                                                                                                                                          payback is over ten years.
           •   Capital expenditure is    •   Robotics very often      •   Shift away from the      •   Autonomous vehicles
                                                                                                                                          They’re going to cost
               often considerable for        optimised for vertical       farm as a centre of          are currently illegal
                                                                                                                                          you, what, £20k pa? I
               larger solutions (e.g.        farming environments         local employment and         in the UK and the
                                                                                                                                          don’t know. Against a
               Robotic Milkers) and          but incapable of             community                    ongoing consultation,
                                                                                                                                          person it’s not worth it at
               beyond many farmers’          operating in rough       •   Significant                  assuming min. six
                                                                                                                                          the moment.”
               available tech budgets        terrain or adverse           training/upskilling          months’ delays
           •   Cost of Field Robots is       climatic conditions          requirements                 for COVID, is
                                                                                                                                          Patrick Allpress
               often net-neutral vs.     •   Very often incapable                                      unlikely to publish
                                                                                                                                          Allpress Farms
               human labour, with            of performing tasks                                       recommendations
               productivity gains            with the accuracy or                                      before 2022
               often marginal                delicacy of human
                                             sight and touch

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IoT can power fundamental changes                                                                                                                   There are considerable gaps in operational capabilities of technologies
                                                                                                                                                    currently available. For those businesses starting afresh with vertical farming
                                                                                                                                                    environments, the benefits are more immediately attainable. But for the
to working practices if optimised                                                                                                                   majority of mature businesses, the technology is at present not fit for purpose.

 Challenges                   Solutions                                                                                         Benefits                                                                 Impact on uptake
 Core functionality           •    Robots able to reliably conduct crop/plant and soil care and/or                              •   Solving for the sector’s productivity issues                         •    Potentially revolutionary
                                   harvesting tasks                                                                             •   Offsetting labour shortages exacerbated by Brexit                         but is more likely to
                              •    Robots able to operate/adapt to different terrains and                                           and COVID                                                                 be evolutionary
                                   weather conditions                                                                           •   Ability to operate in rural areas with low
                              •    Integrated vehicle fleets for automated tasks (e.g. harvesting)                                  broadband speeds
                              •    Telemetric functionality for automatic measurement and                                       •   Automated production of comprehensive data
                                   transmission of data                                                                             sets which are easy-to-use and manage
                              •    Ability for devices to interact/train one another (device-to-device                          •   Optimisation of machine capabilities
                                   learning)

 Device inter-                •    Single operating ‘language’ to allow intra-device communication in                           •   Seamless integration with data analytics and                         •    Potentially value-
 operability                       real time                                                                                        other devices                                                             additive assuming can be
                                                                                                                                •   Time/labour efficiency (avoids management of                              delivered SIMPLY
                                                                                                                                    multiple platforms)

 Platform                     •    Integration of data outputs and agents, enabling automated                                   •   Increased yield/output                                               •    Potentially game-changing
 integration                       diagnosis and delivery of solution with minimal or no manual                                 •   Improved profitability
                                   intervention

 Cost                         •    Provision of robotics in agriculture as a service                                            •   Reduced capex/opex requirements                                      •    Potentially value-additive
                              •    Ability to ‘bolt on’ robotics onto existing machinery/equipment

 Skills/                       •   Basic robot maintenance                                                                      •   Reduced maintenance costs                                            •    Potentially value-additive
 educational gaps              •   Provision of clear and up-to-date legal/regulatory guidelines on                             •   Clarity regarding legal responsibility
                                   their use

It is critical that to take meaningful steps forward in productivity and competitiveness, UK farming has access to the right tech and tools. Barclays wants to be able to support the farming industry through the de-mystification of tech by ensuring
that technology is solving everyday problems the industry faces, starting with the problems and working backwards towards the solutions.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

UK AgriTech
Trailblazers

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

One of the UK’s leading Agri-tech
drone solutions providers
Background                                                                  What Value Is Drone Ag Adding?
                                                                                                                                                         “We’ve learned a lot over the last five
DroneAg is a firm of farmers, agronomists and drone techs building          The core principles of the app, which mirror those of Drone Ag more          years. We assumed when we began
drone-enabled solutions from its base on a 6000-acre farm in                generally, might almost serve as a ‘ready reckoner’ of the principles to     that a farmer wouldn’t be bothered
Northumberland. The firm was formed in 2015 when its founder Jack           which technologists should subscribe:                                        by a price point of £25k for a Drone
Wrangham, from a farming background, wanted to apply his skills                                                                                          System because he spends £80k
                                                                            •   Simple to implement       •   Affordable
and experience from his time managing an aerial media company                                                                                            on a Tractor. But we learnt that’s
                                                                            •   Simple to use             •   Help get the most from existing tech
utilising drone tech, to the challenge of unlocking the benefits of                                                                                      not how it works. A farmer doesn’t
drone technology for UK farmers.                                            •   Fully automated           •   Integrated with other data sources         know what to do with a drone, but
                                                                                                          •   Proven to identify problems                he knows exactly what to do with
What Challenges Is Drone Ag Addressing?                                                                                                                  a tractor.”
                                                                            The app recently won gold at the LAMMA 2020 Innovation Awards
The company began life by manufacturing custom-made Drone                   (which recognise and give exposure to some of the best advances in           Jack Wrangham
Systems but soon thereafter pivoted to design and implementation            agricultural manufacturing).                                                 Founder, Drone Ag
– including training provision – for agricultural drones, after realising
                                                                            DroneAg is the UK’s only pure play provider of Drones for the
how often farmers that had made initial investments in drone tech
                                                                            Agricultural sector and one of the few technology providers whose
subsequently allowed them to go largely unused, often because of
                                                                            core personnel are all steeped in agriculture from birth, giving them
training needs or under-appreciation of the benefits.
                                                                            baseline knowledge that they augment by staying close to their target
The insight gained from interactions from farmers, and the                  client groups, via Trade events, at one of their training courses, or
frustrations they expressed with expensive tech from they were              on-farm itself.
unable to extract (sufficient) value, inspired ‘Skippy Scout’, an AI-
                                                                            The firm’s mantra of ‘Do More In Less Time’ empowers its core
enabled mobile app able to deploy almost any existing Drone on-farm
                                                                            client groups – smaller, younger, resource challenged businesses –
into an easy to use, automated agricultural detection tool.
                                                                            with tools that would otherwise be beyond their budgets and their
                                                                            experience to access. The propositions are fully integrated with
                                                                            existing processes and provide farmers the insights to make the right
                                                                            decisions quickly.

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AI in UK AgriTech — 2021 and beyond

The UK’s Agri-Food data marketplace
Who are they?                                                     Some of the key areas Agrimetrics are targeting include:       •   AI and linked-data technologies pre-linking and
                                                                                                                                     harmonising data from multiple sources, saving man
Agrimetrics is one of four centres for agricultural innovation    •   Crop Analytics – algo-enabled predictive analytics             weeks or months in data transformation.
seeded by Innovate UK, drawing on the expertise of                     providing estimates of yield, risk and supply chain
founding partners NIAB, SRUC, Rothamsted Research                      forecasting; and tools for crop health management, such   Agrimetrics strives to ensure that their data simplifies,
and The University of Reading. A graduate of Microsoft’s               as optimising water usage and preventing crop lodging.    rather than complicates, the decisions agribusinesses
prestigious ‘AI for Earth’ accelerator, its goal is to help                                                                      make, providing only the most relevant data in the simplest
                                                                  •   Harvest Forecasting: AI-driven predictive modelling that   possible way to demystify the often very complex world of
build more productive and sustainable food systems by
                                                                       can predict the optimal window for harvesting of time     AI‑enabled analytics.
improving access to food, farming, and environmental data
                                                                       sensitive perishable crops.
– and by making it easier and more affordable for agrifood
                                                                                                                                 Looking forward, Agrimetrics is focused on removing
organisations to derive insights and ultimately commercial
                                                                  •   Sustainability analytics, such as natural capital          barriers – whether privacy or compensation-related – to
value from that data.
                                                                       accounting, bringing data views together not simply to    ensure data owners and users all benefit from this new data
                                                                       enable regulatory compliance but to help data-hungry      ecosystem and to enable the data-driven knowledge sharing
Collaboration is the cornerstone of the Agrimetric
                                                                       organisations manage resources more cost-effectively      that Agrimetrics believe is key to securing a profitable future
philosophy, and of its open architecture aggregation
                                                                       and identify potential competitive advantages.            for UK farming.
proposition, The Agri-Food Data Marketplace, which allows
agrifood organisations and reseachers to access relevant
                                                                  In short, Agrimetrics is enabling organsiations to move
ancillary data points to enrich analyses; to share data
                                                                  towards what it firmly believes is the future of farming – a
securely; and to monetise that data.
                                                                  sector powered by data, an information business.
                                                                                                                                     “Don’t tell a farmer ‘you need to
What Challenges Is Agrimetrics                                    What Value Is Agrimetrics Adding?
                                                                                                                                     adopt AI’. Ask them what challenges
                                                                                                                                     their business faces, and is there a
Addressing?                                                                                                                          tool that can help? AI is just one tool
                                                                  The Agrimetrics platform, Data Marketplace, is something
                                                                                                                                     in the box.”
Poor access to data, or lack of expertise or budget to unlock     entirely new in UK agriculture, and promises to break down
its value, are major barriers to innovation in the agricultural   some of the most fundamental barriers to deeper integration        Professor Richard Tiffin
sector, Agrimetrics’s Marketplace and underlying linked-data      of data into agrifood processes:                                   Chief Scientific Officer
technologies are enabling solutions providers to address
these challenges and thereby to drive efficiencies and            •   Open architecture allowing users access to breadth and
improve performance and sustainability across the whole               depth of data in one place, easily searchable, through
food chain.                                                           one simple interface.

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The Small Robot Company: The UK’s leading
agricultural robotics firm
Background                                                     All managed through a simple user interface that visualises
                                                               the challenges for farmers and allows them to be in control
Small Robot Company (SRC) aims to revolutionise UK farming     of the solutions without requiring significant upskilling in
                                                               analytics or bioscience.                                                          An Integrated
to make food production sustainable. Inspired by work of
                                                                                                                                                  Network of
Simon Blackmore in the National Centre for Precision Farming
                                                                                                                                              Autonomous Robots
at Harper Adams and his vision a new way of farming,           What Challenges Is SRC Addressing?                                               controlled by a
founders Ben and Sam were inspired to begin work on
                                                                                                                                             centralised AI-enabled
Farming as a Service, embodied in and powered by AI and        FaaS is helping farmers in:
                                                                                                                                                    Platform
cutting-edge robotics technologies.
                                                               •   Reducing the environmental cost of farming through
Aware of the often sceptical attitudes with respect to new          more efficient use of inputs, whilst – at the same time -
technology, and the pain those on the ‘bleeding edge’               maximising outputs.
often experience, nevertheless consultation with farmers                                                                                       Tom lives on the farm
highlighted opportunities for early stage tech adoption        •   Reducing costs, including inventory and maintenance
                                                                                                                                            trundling about, constantly
if it could be derisked financially and operationally. That         overheads, offering technology with few of its inherent
                                                                                                                                                 checking the crop
opportunity is made real in SRC’s ‘Farming-as-a-Service’            commercial risks.
(FaaS) model.
                                                               FaaS is putting Precision Agriculture at farmers’ fingertips,                    Wilma lives in Tom’s
                                                               allowing them to pay for outputs rather than inputs, and                       kennel and turns Tom’s
What Challenges Is SRC Addressing?                             although in its infancy in deployment, services such as                         info into instructions
                                                               automated weed identification, early (non-chemical)                               for Dick and Harry
Fundamentally to challenge existing – longer-tern
                                                               intervention and weeding are proving extremely popular
unsustainable – norms of farming, putting AI at the heart of
                                                               with those farmerssolutions. These conversations remain an
an integrated scanning, processing and execution loop that
                                                               ongoing workstream within the business, rather than a ‘one-      Harry is called out to         Dick is called out to
monitors crops, solves problems and implements solutions.
                                                               off’ at the point of product design.                              plant the crop with            feed the crop, zap
Small thinking machines replacing large dumb technology.
Putting the emphasis on accuracy rather than vspeed.                                                                              no ploughing, and           the weeds and spray
                                                                                                                                record the location of             the nasties
                                                                                                                                     every plant

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