Public Funding for Pollybell Farms Limited

Broccoli one of the UK's favourite vegetables is even today harvested by seasonal workers who walk in the crop to select and cut only the ripe broccoli heads. Growers have been facing chronic labour shortages and increasing costs. In 2021 £' millions of broccoli crops were left unharvested due to a shortage of seasonal labour UK. For 2022 broccoli and brassica growers have cut back their plantings so more broccoli will be imported to meet needs -- driving up costs and increasing food mile CO2 emissions. Farmers across the world are searching for an automated harvesting solution. This project will take a world-leading proof of concept broccoli harvesting machine to infield testing in 2022 and a pre-production prototype in 2023\. The new automated approach will harvest the whole plant, opening up the potential to create valuable and nutritious plant-based foods from what was previously seen as crop waste.

This project will develop LightWeeder -- a world-first eye-safe, herbicide-free, carbon neutral, commercially viable light-based weeding system; delivered by lightweight autonomous field robots via UK agri-robotics company Earth Rover (ER).

The Earth Rover led consortium will build a prototype selective that will contribute to solving the problem of a shortage of seasonal agricultural labour required to pick crops due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Brexit. The robots use an AI-powered vision system to select in-spec broccoli and leave crop growing so reducing crop waste. A gang of three robots can select and cut up to 12 broccoli heads in 5 seconds. The cut heads are passed to a conveyor system mounted on a tractor and packed. The project will place the UK at the forefront of agricultural robotics and offers the potential to create high-value jobs and valuable export opportunities.