NEXT WEEK'S Precision Farming event looks to be a 'must see' for producers committed to using hi-tech solutions to age old arable problems.

Being held on the County Showground, Newark, Notts, next Tuesday, October 18, the event will be a smorgasbord of advice, new technology and demonstrations.

As part of a review of precision farming techniques, the AHDB has identified a number of barriers to the adoption and development of such technologies within the cereals and oilseeds sector.

Its in-house review aimed to identify ways of improving the uptake of precision farming technology in the UK.

This culminated in several key recommendations for further work, including activities targeted at increasing the reliability and ease of use of precision farming technologies, and improving the level of quality guidance to help growers make more informed investment decisions.

It identified that the targeted use of crop inputs was essential for the future of cereals and oilseeds production but the costs and benefits of precision technologies were poorly understood and needed to be assessed,

Dr Sajjad Awan, who led the latest review, said: “Via the targeting of resources, PA can help increase yields, reduce costs or do both at the same time. Such approaches can make a positive contribution to sustainable intensification.

“As developments in this area in the last decade, or so, have been immense, we thought it would be prudent to map progress to date and look at the direction of travel.”

The review cited automatic steering systems, fuelled by advances in global navigation satellite systems, as the most successful PA application on arable land to date, with an associated increase in the adoption of controlled traffic farming.

Although there has been an enormous increase in PA technology available to farmers, adoption was found to be less than expected. Dr Awan continued: “One of the main uptake barriers facing it is a lack of understanding about what technology is available and, importantly, which options could make a profitable difference.

“The provision of quality guidance and advice would make a big difference to help growers assess, cost out and integrate PA approaches within their arable businesses.”

* At the event, AGCO/Fendt, in partnership with the University of Ulm, will highlight a research project on the use of field robots in sowing maize.

Small robot units have been developed with the assistance of a cloud-based solution and can be controlled wherever they are during sowing operations.

The placement of each individual seed can be documented and saved in the cloud. Subsequent cultivation work can then be carried out precisely, using less inputs.

The field robots are transported to their operating site with a logistics unit. From there, they perform automatic and precise sowing operations. Through battery-powered, electric drive, low weight and autonomous operation, sowing can also take place under conditions where conventional farming usually cannot be used.

The research project is sponsored by the European Union.

* A seminar at the event will also prove useful for those interested in precision farming:

10am 'Precision farming made easy, how a normal farmer made it work' – James Porter, Porters Farms (Walpole), will be discussing with Karl Schneider his first 12 months of precision farming 600-plus ha in Suffolk.

10.30am 'Moving on' – a proficient precision farmer presents how using his management information allows him to drive farm margins and target inputs for excellent crops and returns.

11am 'Ways in and ways onwards with precision farming' – panel discussion with the speakers from above and Robert Yardley, farm manager, Velcourt, chaired by Karl Schneider.

1pm 'Fault finding – which parts of the farm are not making any money and what can we do about it?' – Mike Green, a specialist for arable agronomy at Natural England, will look at the use of precision data alongside environmental activity to stop making a loss on field areas and turn this into a profit by taking up agri-environment options.

1.30pm 'Controlled traffic adoption' – Will Goff, Foxburrow Farms, Norfolk, a farmers lessons from adoption of CTF.

2.00pm 'How precision farming can help when it's gone wrong?' – Data integration, soil problems, diagnosis and repair, hardware incompatibilities in a panel, with industry perspectives from Harry Henderson, AHDB, David Purdy (John Deere), Ben Hatton/Sarah Alexander (Gatekeeper).