A team of experts from Bosch, BASF Digital Farming, Chafer Machinery and Rothamsted Research have successfully reached the midway point of developments in a three-year project to develop the use of precision farming technology and artificial intelligence to help reduce the persistent problem of black-grass in UK farms.
Black-grass (alopecurus myosuroides) is a weed that inhibits the growth of wheat crops, reducing its yield and damaging the productivity of farms.
This weed alone represents a real threat to the sustainability of UK cereal production because it is responsible for up to 800,000 tons of UK wheat losses a year, with subsequent economic losses of around £400 million.
The project consortium was awarded a grant of £1,452,614 for the three-year project from DEFRA and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, under the Farming Innovation Programme – Small R&D Partnership Projects.