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28 February 2020
Three focus farms have been chosen to be part of a new ‘Digital Farm’ project led by SAOS and delivered in partnership with SmartRural, Scottish Natural Heritage and RSABI.
The one-year project will look at how low-cost sensor technologies can be used across different farm types, capturing data to facilitate better business decision making and provide solutions to important challenges facing the sector, such as health and safety and management of the natural environment. The work is funded by the Scottish Government and the European Union through the SRDP Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF).
Jim Booth, Project Lead and Head of Co-op Development at SAOS explains: “Farmers are facing a future in which agricultural subsidies are likely to decrease and have a greater emphasis on rewarding practices that protect and enhance the natural environment.
“Parallel to this is a growing interest, at a consumer level, in knowing that the food they consume is of high quality, known provenance and has been produced in a manner that is respectful of the environment. It is imperative that Scottish farmers avail themselves of new technologies that allow them to meet the challenge of becoming more productive and profitable, whilst at the same time preserving and enhancing Scotland’s natural capital.”
Project partner SmartRural has installed LoRaWAN networks on the three Scottish family farms. Working closely with the farmers, a bespoke package of sensors will be installed on each farm to capture a range of data that will be used as the basis for improved decision making across the enterprise.”
In addition to learnings from data recording and sensors around the farm to improve technical performance, an area of significant interest will be how sensors can be used to provide insights that allow for better management of natural capital.
Transfer of knowledge will be enhanced by showcasing the technologies and their benefits to other Scottish farmers to raise awareness and increase uptake. Supporting this will be a programme of open farm events, case studies and short videos.
The focus farmers involved in the project are Neil and Debbie McGowan, Incheoch Farm in Alyth, whose main enterprise is suckler cows and breeding ewes; Russell and Hilary Brown, Inverdovat Farm, Newport-on-Tay who operate intensive arable units focusing on cereals and potatoes; and Peter and Elaine Robertson, Ednie Farm, St Fergus, who have a mixed farm, a large area of woodland, mixed habitats and a major renewable energy business.
*LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) – is the open system run by the LoRa Alliance. LoRaWAN is a standard for wireless communication that allows IoT (internet of things) devices to communicate over large distances with minimal battery usage.