Here, Davina Fillingham from Agri-Sense explains how Precision Agriculture technology both captivated and informed more than 100 farming visitors to a series of on-farm demo days – as she introduces and looks ahead to Agri-Tech Expo North at the Great Yorkshire Showground in February 2025.
Over the 19th, 20th and 21st November, Agri-Sense, a Precision Agriculture special interest group run in association with the Farmer Scientist Network of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, held three farm demo days of award-winning agricultural technology in conjunction with SoilEssentials and Manterra in which over 100 people attended.
The days were kindly hosted by Roger Hobson of Hobson Farming at Crockey Hill, York, Bishop Burton College, East Yorkshire and Simon Waudby of Waudby Farms at Flawith, North Yorkshire.
Benefits of AI and drone tech
The days saw morning and afternoon session demonstrating the AGXEED fully autonomous tractor cultivating land (pictured below) and the SKAI sprayer which uses artificial intelligence to identify and precisely target individual weeds for spot spraying.
Both of these technologies were supplied and demonstrated by Scottish-based SoilEssentials precision farming solutions who are the local representatives for the AGXEED robot and the designers and manufacturers of the SKAI sprayer.
Also demonstrated was the XAG drone (pictured below) from Manterra of Market Weightion, which is capable of spraying, spreading fertiliser and seed such as cover crops from the air.
It was fascinating to see how quickly the drone could work and its relative affordability.
It highlighted the benefits of equipment that is not reliant on ground conditions for operations which can have benefits for timeliness of operations and potential yield benefits.
An informative showcase for all
Visitors included farmers, land managers, contractors and students and it gave a great opportunity to showcase technology that is capable of being adopted on farm now to carry out tasks that Agri-Sense, as a group wanted to highlight that the technology is beyond concept and available to buy now.
The AGXEED robot is captivating to watch and goes about its operations in field in a fully autonomous mode, capable of detecting and avoiding in field obstacles using Lidar and sensor technology.
Over the three days we saw the robot operate a field drag to carry out light cultivations, a Rytec subsoiler and a drill, essentially operating like a normal tractor but fully autonomously.
The SKAI sprayer (pictured below) uses boom mounted cameras that use AI to detect weeds such as docks in grassland and will then only activate the spray nozzle where the target weed has been identified.
The ability to identify green weeds on a green background is a significant advancement in technology.
The potential costs savings of such a machine are striking with the potential to reduce chemical use by as much as 95%.
Encouraging start as we look ahead to Expo in 2025
Feedback from the days has been very positive and the first event of its kind in Yorkshire to demonstrate all three award-winning technologies in the same field on the same day.
The organisers are extremely pleased to have run the event and are looking to hold similar events in the future.
On the 25th February 2025, Agri-Sense is holding Agri-Tech Expo North at the Great Yorkshire Showground, an event where the latest technology for arable and livestock farmers and land managers will be on show and demonstrated in designated areas.
For more information about the technology that was demonstrated at our recent events, please see the contact information below.
XAG Drone: Manterra Ltd, Hesselskew Farm, York, YO43 4RJ. T: 01430 879410 E: support@manterra.co.uk
AGXEED Robot & SKAi Sprayer: SoilEssentials, Hilton of Fern, By Brechin, Angus, Scotland, DD9 6SB. T: 01356 650459 E: enquiries@soilessentials.com
You can see the AGXEED Robot in action in the clip below.
