In good news for English farmers, Sustainable Times reports a new £50 million grant for promoting new technologies to improve farming profits and productivity.
Some of this technology includes robots that plant seeds and slurry separators — machines that separate solid and liquid elements of animal waste for different reuse, such as compost and bedding.
Farmers can get up to £25,000 from the £46.7 million Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF). In addition, there is a £5 million Investor Partnerships program from the government, which combines public and private funding to speed access for farmers.
Despite being in the pilot stage, the program has already seen some success. One company has already developed better crops after using seed-cleaning technology. An Iowa State University study comparing manual to machine seed cleaning with Ugandan farmers concluded the mechanical option saved 69 human work hours for each 100 kilograms of seed cleaned.
Advanced technology can help improve food security by enabling farmers to maximize resources. Across the pond, Chemical & Engineering News reported how one farmer used a sensor attached to his tractor to measure greenness while driving over crops. The process helped decide which areas needed more fertilizer and which didn't to avoid waste. Fertilizer precision can also reduce polluting runoff that can go into waterways.
Many factors, including climate warming and pollinator habitat loss, have threatened food security and farming. An increasingly hot planet has created more devastating weather patterns, such as drought and intense flooding, which have dried up or washed away crops. At least access to technology can help farmers better adapt to these changing climate conditions. For example, it can help them know when and how to reduce irrigation to conserve water.
In nearby Scotland, scientists from the University of Glasgow and Łukasiewicz Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics created biodegradable sensors to monitor soil pH and check for toxic elements. Murdoch University and ClearVue Technologies scientists in Australia have developed windows that produce electricity while harvesting food by creating a greenhouse effect for plants.
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