A team of experts from Bosch, BASF Digital Farming, Chafer Machinery and Rothamsted Research will use precision farming technology and artificial intelligence to help reduce the persistent problem of black-grass in UK farms. Black-grass (alopecurus myosuroides) is a weed that inhibits the growth of wheat crop, reducing its yield and therefore damaging the productivity of farms.
It’s one of the biggest challenges facing farmers in the UK today and is threatening the sustainability of UK cereal production. It’s estimated that the weed is responsible for annual wheat loses of up to 800,000t, with associated economic losses of approximately £400 million.
Bosch is the lead partner in the research and development (R&D) project consortium that has been awarded a grant of £1.45 million from Defra and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, under the Farming Innovation Programme.
Each partner brings unique expertise: Bosch is one of the leading companies for sensor and software technologies and will steer the project in collaboration with digital agriculture specialists BASF Digital Farming and sprayer manufacturer Chafer Machinery. Together they will be supported and guided by the input of renowned academic experts in black-grass from Rothamsted Research.
Using Bosch’s Smart Spraying camera technology and software, Chafer will design innovative boom sprayers to detect, identify and map black-grass at different growth stages within cereal crops across a farm. The smart sprayer technology will be tested on commercial farms selected from the Rothamsted Black-Grass Research Initiative (BGRI).
Agronomists from Rothamsted will label the images and will support Bosch in training algorithms to recognise black-grass in cereal crops. This information is then processed and analysed by BASF Digital Farming and delivered to its advanced xarvio Digital Farming Solutions crop optimisation platform. In the platform, the information will be used to map infield populations to support the development of integrated weed management plans for targeted black-grass control.
Overall, the persistent problem of black-grass should reduce in severity and the ambition is, with enhanced mapping, to improve sustainable black-grass management programmes.
Additionally, beside a superior performance in black-grass control, the project could result in reduced herbicide volumes sprayed in-field. This would minimise unintended direct consequences on other organisms and reduce the potential for leaching into other vulnerable ecosystems, such as waterways.
The innovation lead at Bosch UK, Bharath Jayakumar, said we’re constantly looking for solutions to the challenges people face and it’s particularly exciting when we see a way to develop new technologies to solve a problem.
“We believe our sensor, software and AI technology can make a difference for UK farmers and will help them to target black-grass better in their fields,” he added.
The managing director at Chafer Machinery, Rob Starkey, said integrating innovative technology to maximise the efficiency and accuracy of herbicide application was a key part of Chafer’s strategy to help UK arable farms increase productivity and reduce unnecessary impact on the environment.
“The Smart Sprayer project is a unique opportunity, working with leading industry partners, to contribute to the development of cutting-edge technology which will help solve the UK black-grass problem,” he added.
