Improving farming with satellites: business projects win funding (Picture: NASA) More than 20 businesses have won funding for projects that investigate use of satellite technology to improve farming systems. The projects have won a share of £3 million to explore and develop new ways to improve food production using satellite technologies. The ‘Satellites to improve agri-food systems’ competition was jointly funded by Innovate UK and the National Environment Research Council and will support 4 collaborative research and development projects and 9 feasibility studies. An increasing world population, greater wealth in developing countries and the trend towards urbanisation are all putting an increasing strain on the world’s food supplies. Satellite technology and increased use of data are already helping to increase agricultural productivity in a sustainable way. Projects aim to improve farm productivity Among the projects approved for funding are: • creation of a UK soil map to enable precision farming techniques led by AgSpace • a satellite-data based management tool for pasture led by Rezatec • development of a drone crop spraying system led by VTOL Technologies • a study into increasing farm productivity through satellite broadband on farms without 3G/4G coverage led by Avanti Communications • a study into geolocation tracking of extensive livestock systems led by Hoofprints Technologies
Over 100 businesses have won a combined total of £ ##50 m in funding to research the potential usage of satellite technology to improve food production . The project was funded by both Innovate UK and the National Environment Research Council as a response to the increasing strain on food supplies internationally .