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The number of agri-tech companies continues to grow. We profile new developments from Agri-TechE's REAP 2020 conference.

A plant-based alternative to microplastics is being developed by Xampla. The company is currently making edible plastics but sees a bigger opportunity in creating biodegradable products from non-food crops and waste streams.

Simon Hombersley is founder of Cambridge-based Xampla, and said plant-based plastics are a major opportunity for growers: "We are currently using pea protein powder to create nutritional microcapsules, and we are interested in talking to farmers and the wider supply chain about sources of pea and other protein."

Biopesticides from essential oils

Dr Joe Roberts, entomologist at Harper Adams University discussed work he is doing on essential oils and the role they have in controlling pests. "Aphids such as myzus persicae have high levels of resistance to insecticides and some actives are no longer permitted to control it.

"There are also other issues with conventional pesticides such as environmental safety. Eucalyptus oil is an essential oil with a variety of different properties - some anti-insect properties. Essential oils are mixtures of defence compounds that plants produce when they are under attack.

"They can be behaviour-modifying, can repel pests and attract natural enemies to speed up biological control."

Some biopesticides based on essential oils are available in Europe and neem, is available in the UK, said Dr Roberts. "The seed is ground down and oil extracted from it. It has anti-feeding properties so the pests don't feed on the plant.

"At Harper Adams we are conducting a range of research based on essential oils."

Reducing preventative spraying with pheromone midge trap

PheroSyn, based at Rothamsted Research, has developed a cost-effective smart monitoring system for orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) which uses pheromones to communicate and find a mate over long distances.

Dan Bahia, who co-founded PheroSyn in 2019 alongside a highly experienced team of Rothamsted chemists, said: "Smart monitoring approaches with pheromones are designed to remove the need for prophylactic pesticide application, therefore reducing spraying overall. Pheromones attract the pest to the trap so you can see where the pest is and target spraying more efficiently.

"In addition to the OWBM pheromone, we're now able to produce the saddle gall midge and pea midge pheromones for sale and we're in the process of scaling up production for commercial volume.

"We've already been approached by members of the agribusiness community who see the tremendous potential of pheromones but have until now been unable to exploit them due to them not being available."

Bar coding and soil diversity

Prof Alex Dumbrell, University of Essex discussed a new way of measuring soil biodiversity in order to better inform rotation choices. "Until we have biodiversity we will not build up organic matter and there will be no nutrient cycling.

"Certain aspects of soil biodiversity have a negative impact on crop growth such as nematodes and soil-borne pathogens but others such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria are positive. Some organisms have a negative effect on some plant species and a positive effect on others."

More can be learned about the impact of soil diversity on plants through DNA bar coding, says Prof Dumbrell. "If you consider a worm - if you juice it you can extract DNA - this acts as a bar code telling you what species of worm you have. If you could take a block of soil and place it through a ‘bar code scanner' you could read the DNA present, identifying all aspects of biodiversity and what has beneficial or negative interactions with plants.

"The network of biodiversity could help some plant species but have a negative effect on others. This would allow stronger recommendations about what should be grown where and any amelioration that might be needed."

Collaborative working to establish best use of land assets

The Land App is an easy to use digital mapping platform that enables land managers to benefit from new agri-environmental schemes, connect with natural capital investors and design integrated estate plans that support best practice. 

Tim Hopkin founded the company in 2015 out of personal frustration when he struggled to save the family farm in Sussex. "I was trying to work out how best to use the land assets to stop us having to sell the farm and found the available information so fragmented. The solution is Land App; it supports land managers with designing integrated estate plans that support diversification, has 1.2 million hectares of farmland represented within the platform and contracts with major regional and local land agents.

"Our main objective with The Land App is to support the development of the natural capital market and the transition to agri-environmental schemes by enabling improved decision-making. The platform enables the land management sector to work collaboratively and transfer land data more effectively," said Mr Hopkin.

Measuring soil lifespan

Daniel Evans', PhD study at Lancaster University looked at the length of soil lifespan. He explained that soil formation takes a very long time equating to only the width of a human hair formed each year. "But it doesn't take long to erode. Where erosion exceeds rate of soil formation, soil thinning occurs.

"You may have heard the claim that we only have 60 harvests left. I carried out one of the first studies of soil formation and compared soils around world. Ninety per cent are thinning and 16 per cent have lifespans of less than 100 years.

"Converting land to forest and grassland expands soil lifespan the most, closely followed by cover cropping. Cultivating across the slope also helps. More than half of sites managed with conservation practices have lifespans exceeding 5,000 years."

Brains behind agri-robots team launched

The brains behind Small Robot Company's team of agri-robots was launched at REAP 2020. Wilma provides ‘per plant intelligence', using precise information gleaned by Tom, the scouting robot, on the health of the plant. If Wilma identifies the plant as a weed, then Dick - a non-chemical robotic weeder - is dispatched to zap it.

Ben Scott-Robinson, CEO and co-founder of Small Robot Company, explained that the robots are being trialled on three farms.