Precision agriculture at the NPL
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Abstract
sensors, robotics and data analysis to automate and precisely target agricultural activities – for example by employing a fruit picking robot that checks every fruit for colour, size and blemishes before harvesting it. The group is engaged in multiple and diverse projects, all funded by industry and aimed at producing industrial solutions for immediate field deployment. The group has been active for 8 years, and in that time has delivered more than ten projects to industrial customers. The agricultural technology (agritech) industry’s desire to adopt high-tech solutions is driven by the conflicting needs to increase productivity whilst reducing resource inputs. Worldwide demand for food growing steeply since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-18 th century inputs pesticides, herbicides, high-energy and pharmacological heavy machinery and relying on and farming maximise