Developing a digital crop scouting service for glasshouse crops

Identifying the presence of pests, diseases and disorders has traditionally relied upon trained agronomists or crop scouts, who inspect the crops visually for their presence or absence.

For some pests or diseases, and for most physiological and nutritional disorders, by the time that visual symptoms appear on the crop, some adverse impact on growth and subsequent crop yield and quality will have occurred. Developing a system of inspection which will identify their presence at an earlier stage, will allow growers to implement changes to their crop management before yields and quality are affected.

The project

This project aims to develop a digital crop management approach for the early detection of glasshouse pests and diseases, utilising the latest diagnostic technology and agronomic knowledge in a commercial production setting.

The objective is to co-develop a crop scouting service, informed by spectral diagnostics (wearable and mounted diagnostic hardware) that can detect the early establishment of any event which adversely affects yield, and which can be integrated within crop management systems. The work will largely focus on glasshouse tomatoes and peppers, but the results will benefit growers of other protected crops.

Title: Digital Crop Management for glasshouse pests and diseases

Funder: Innovate UK: Defra and UKRI Farming Innovation Programme

Industry partners: Abbey View Produce, British Tomato Growers Association, Fargro, Fotenix, Thanet Earth

Term: January 2023 to May 2026

Lead Partner: Fotenix