A NEW competition has been launched by AHDB horticulture as part of their SmartHort Automation campaign, which hopes to offer a practical solution to the labour challenges facing the sector.

The process looks to match expert engineers from the manufacturing industry with horticulture producers – to develop new technology to improve labour efficiency.

The winning grower will collaborate with automation systems experts from Warwick Manufacturing Group, at the University of Warwick, during a two-year project.

Professor of Automation Systems at WMG, Robert Harrison, said: “We believe our expertise in areas such as vision systems, special purpose machinery, integration of robotics and autonomous indoor vehicles will be invaluable in finding new solutions to automate production processes in light of the current labour shortages in horticulture.

“Our cutting-edge technology and custom automation solutions have already been applied to different industries including aerospace, automotive and healthcare,” he explained. “Moving into horticulture will be a great new challenge.”

Head of knowledge exchange at AHDB Horticulture, Debbie Wilson, added: “As part of the AHDB SmartHort campaign, we have set out to bring new knowledge in robotics and automation into UK horticulture. The partnership with WMG is a brilliant way to show other engineering specialists the potential for further technological development in our industry,” she enthused.

“The challenge will deliver an applied practical solution for one growing business, but the solution will benefit other growers too.”

Growers have until March 29 to apply, by completing a short survey explaining the problem in their production process that they would like WMG to fix. Further information and how to apply can be found online at ahdb.org.uk/smarthort.