 | The article's lead section may need to be rewritten.(March 2021) |
The Hands Free Hectare (HFH) project was established in order to develop and showcase agricultural automation by completing the world's first fully autonomous cropping cycle. [1] [2] [3] Based at Harper Adams University, Shropshire, UK, working in collaboration with Precision Decisions. [4]
The idea for the Hands Free Hectare project was conceived in 2015 by two staff working in the Engineering Department at Harper Adams University, Kit Franklin and Jonathan Gill, who were frustrated by the pace and limited scope of academic developments in the area of field agricultural automation/robotics that they believed had become stagnant [1] when compared to tech sectors such as UAVs. Jonathan was utilising open source technologies (OS Software & OS hardware) to build UAVs and the pair felt they could adapt these systems to work on agricultural vehicles. [1] They also felt it was critical to showcase the machines operating in the field to change the perception of the agricultural industry [1] and being the first to complete a full cropping cycle seemed like a compelling challenge. With publicity in mind, the project would need a memorable name. Hands Free Hectare came out of a short discussion between Kit and Jonathan. It was written down on a post-it note and stuck on the lab wall where is stayed for nearly a year prior to the project, as is described in episode 75 of the Rock and Roll Farming podcast. [5]
After considering how to get the project off the ground, Kit and Jonathan approached Clive Blacker, the director of Precision Decisions and a prominent precision agriculture service provider, to propose an Innovate UK collaboration whereby working together they would develop an autonomous system and grow a first crop. [6]
The project started in October 2016, with the team initially conducting system developments on a small prototype vehicle [7] prior to receiving the ISEKI compact tractor which was adapted to conduct autonomous farming tasks. During the project the team (now also including Precision Decisions engineer Martin Abell) worked as a fully integrated skunkworks to develop the systems needed. Progress was reviewed and monitored weekly to avoid missing strict cropping cycle dates, as discussed at the IAgrE Landwards Conference 2018.[ citation needed ] As per the name of the project, the area to be farmed autonomously was a hectare of land. It was fenced off to ensure the safety of visitors to the site, and also gave it the feel of an arena.
On the 25th of April 2017, the project conducted its first major in field autonomous cropping task by drilling spring barley into the hectare. [8] This was followed by autonomous rolling of the drilled crop on the 28th of April to which journalist and media were invited to attend, resulting in considerable coverage. [9] [10]
In September 2017, the project met its goal to complete a fully autonomous cropping cycle when the spring barely was harvested. [11] This is recognised as the point at which a world's first had been achieved; a key milestone for autonomous agriculture. [3]
A total of ten autonomous field operations were conducted in the growing of the HFH spring barley. Alongside the autonomous field operations, all the agronomy for the HFH was conducted remotely by agronomist Kieran Walsh using information gathered by drones and ground scouting vehicles. [12] [13]
Following the success and positive reception to the HFH project, a follow on year was agreed and funded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). [14] The aim of this second year of the project was to iterate and improve the performance of the autonomous systems as well as looking to improve the techniques used to conduct remote agronomy. [14]
The crop grown in the second year was winter wheat and the autonomous tractor was improved to allow for remote start up and control system changes enabling the tractor and combine to run simultaneously and unloading on the move. [14] [15] Reporting and videos from harvest can be seen in The Farmers Weekly. [16]
In 2018 the HFH project won the Future Food award at the BBC Food and Farming Awards [17] [18]
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output.
Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management strategy based on observing, measuring and responding to temporal and spatial variability to improve agricultural production sustainability. It is used in both crop and livestock production. Precision agriculture often employs technologies to automate agricultural operations, improving their diagnosis, decision-making or performing. The goal of precision agriculture research is to define a decision support system for whole farm management with the goal of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources.
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. It is the application of a combination of sciences such as biology, chemistry, economics, ecology, earth science, and genetics. Professionals of agronomy are termed agronomists.
Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm task formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.
Agricultural research in Israel is based on close cooperation and interaction between scientists, consultants, farmers and agriculture-related industries. Israel's climate ranges from Mediterranean (Csa) to semi-arid and arid. Shortage of irrigation water and inadequate precipitation in some parts of the country are major constraints facing Israeli agriculture. Through extensive greenhouses production, vegetables, fruits and flowers are grown for export to the European markets during the winter off-season.
An agricultural robot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes. The main area of application of robots in agriculture today is at the harvesting stage. Emerging applications of robots or drones in agriculture include weed control, cloud seeding, planting seeds, harvesting, environmental monitoring and soil analysis. According to Verified Market Research, the agricultural robots market is expected to reach $11.58 billion by 2025.
Agriculture in Saskatchewan is the production of various food, feed, or fiber commodities to fulfill domestic and international human and animal sustenance needs. The newest agricultural economy to be developed in renewable biofuel production or agricultural biomass which is marketed as ethanol or biodiesel. Plant cultivation and livestock production have abandoned subsistence agricultural practices in favor of intensive technological farming resulting in cash crops which contribute to the economy of Saskatchewan. The particular commodity produced is dependent upon its particular biogeography or ecozone of Geography of Saskatchewan. Agricultural techniques and activities have evolved over the years. The first nation nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the early immigrant ox and plow farmer proving up on his quarter section of land in no way resemble the present farmer operating huge amounts of land or livestock with their attendant technological mechanization. Challenges to the future of Saskatchewan agriculture include developing sustainable water management strategies for a cyclical drought prone climate in south western Saskatchewan, updating dryland farming techniques, stabilizing organic definitions or protocols and the decision to grow, or not to grow genetically modified foods. Domestically and internationally, some commodities have faced increased scrutiny from disease and the ensuing marketing issues.
Intensive crop farming is a modern industrialized form of crop farming. Intensive crop farming's methods include innovation in agricultural machinery, farming methods, genetic engineering technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, patent protection of genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations.
Romania has an agricultural capacity of approximately 14.7 million hectares (57,000 sq mi) 9.38 million are used as arable land. In 2008, an evaluation revealed that 6.8 million hectares are not used. In 2018, Romania was the third biggest agricultural producer of the EU and produced the largest amount of maize.
Armenia has 2.1 million hectares of agricultural land, 72% of the country's land area. Most of this, however, is mountain pastures, and cultivable land is 480,000 hectares, or 16% of the country's area. In 2006, 46% of the work force was employed in agriculture, and agriculture contributed 21% of the country's GDP. In 1991 Armenia imported about 65 percent of its food.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 70% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 54% of its domestic food consumption.
Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, environmental, software, and chemical engineering to improve the efficiency of farms and agribusiness enterprises as well as to ensure sustainability of natural and renewable resources.
Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. Machinery is used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed.
Farming systems in India are strategically utilized, according to the locations where they are most suitable. The farming systems that significantly contribute to the agriculture of India are subsistence farming, organic farming, industrial farming. Regions throughout India differ in types of farming they use; some are based on horticulture, ley farming, agroforestry, and many more. Due to India's geographical location, certain parts experience different climates, thus affecting each region's agricultural productivity differently. India is very dependent on its monsoon cycle for large crop yields. India's agriculture has an extensive background which goes back to at least 9 thousand years. In India, in the alluvial plains of the Indus River in Pakistan, the old cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa experienced an apparent establishment of an organized farming urban culture. That society, known as the Harappan or Indus civilization, flourished until shortly after 4000 BP; it was much more comprehensive than those of Egypt or Babylonia and appeared earlier than analogous societies in northern China. Currently, the country holds the second position in agricultural production in the world. In 2007, agriculture and other industries made up more than 16% of India's GDP. Despite the steady decline in agriculture's contribution to the country's GDP, agriculture is the biggest industry in the country and plays a key role in the socio-economic growth of the country. India is the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, groundnuts, and dozens more. It is also the second biggest harvester of vegetables and fruit, representing 8.6% and 10.9% of overall production, respectively. The major fruits produced by India are mangoes, papayas, sapota, and bananas. India also has the biggest number of livestock in the world, holding 281 million. In 2008, the country housed the second largest number of cattle in the world with 175 million.
Harper Adams University, founded in 1901 as Harper Adams College, is a public university located close to the village of Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire, England. Established in 1901, the college is a specialist provider of higher education for the agricultural and rural sector. It gained university college status in 1998, and university status in 2012.
A driverless tractor is an autonomous farm vehicle that delivers a high tractive effort at slow speeds for the purposes of tillage and other agricultural tasks. It is considered driverless because it operates without the presence of a human inside the tractor itself. Like other unmanned ground vehicles, they are programmed to independently observe their position, decide speed, and avoid obstacles such as people, animals, or objects in the field while performing their task. The various driverless tractors are split into full autonomous technology and supervised autonomy. The idea of the driverless tractor appears as early as 1940, but the concept has significantly evolved in the last few years. The tractors use GPS and other wireless technologies to farm land without requiring a driver. They operate simply with the aid of a supervisor monitoring the progress at a control station or with a manned tractor in lead.
The Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute is a public engineering research and development institution in Durgapur, West Bengal, India. It is a constituent laboratory of the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This institute is the only national level research institute in the field of mechanical engineering in India.
Agricultural technology or agrotechnology is the use of technology in agriculture, horticulture, and aquaculture with the aim of improving yield, efficiency, and profitability. Agricultural technology can be products, services or applications derived from agriculture that improve various input and output processes.
Digital agriculture, sometimes known as smart farming or e-agriculture, is tools that digitally collect, store, analyze, and share electronic data and/or information in agriculture. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has described the digitalization process of agriculture as the digital agricultural revolution. Other definitions, such as those from the United Nations Project Breakthrough, Cornell University, and Purdue University, also emphasize the role of digital technology in the optimization of food systems.
{{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)