Public Funding for Berryworld Limited

The drought in 2022 highlighted the severe limitations on farmers and growers having access to reliable water supplies to support high-value irrigated crop production. The protected horticulture sector is particularly vulnerable to water shortages given that all the crop water requirements must be met from irrigation. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) provides an important alternative for alleviating water scarcity for soft fruit businesses whilst also providing flood control benefits. While many soft fruit businesses are interested in developing RWH systems on-farm to reduce their dependence on public mains water supplies, and/or direct abstraction, they lack the necessary tools and knowledge to support more informed decision-making and risk management under conditions of increasing water scarcity and climate uncertainty. The aim of this two-year feasibility project is to therefore develop a prototype web-based tool that will support farm businesses and those engaged in the agricultural and horticultural sectors to better understand the hydrological suitability, technical feasibility, and economic viability for installing rainwater harvesting systems and associated storage to reduce on-farm water and climate risks to production. In this project, the prototype will be developed for the soft fruit sector to assess business benefits (productivity) and scope for reducing environmental impacts (reduced direct abstraction and mains water use) and increased resilience (reduced exposure to water restrictions). Our future ambition is then to up-scale and expand the approach to other agricultural (livestock, poultry) and horticultural (HNS and ornamentals) sub-sectors to maximise impact and industry benefits. The tool will provide critical farm business support for calculating the most effective RWH system for their circumstances, taking into account local climate as well as farm information on cropped areas, crop mixes, building infrastructure, water sources and available storage. The RWH tool will also assist those farmers with existing RWH installations to evaluate the relative performance of their systems and to identify measures to improve rainwater self-sufficiency; enable farmers that do not have RWH systems to evaluate potential resource benefits, including design and management options, and mains water saving costs; and assist others involved in design of RWH systems for new developments to make informed decisions regarding the trade-offs between RWH performance and water storage capacity to recommend systems that are best suited to the local farm circumstances.

AUTOPIC is a multi disciplinary project aimed at mechanising the harvesting of soft fruit through the use of autonomous vehicles and robotics. Partners include Harper Adams University, the Shadow Robot Company, Interface Devices Limited, BerryWorld and the National Physical Laboratory. The project is timely since the source of migrant seasonal fruit pickers is no longer supported by the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and in general migration is being discouraged by government policy. This has had the net effect of creating a crisis of there not being sufficient workers to pick the soft fruit we take for granted in our supermarkets and potential increased reliance on imports. Further, labour issues are not confined to the UK so that if the project is successful there will be a significant export market for the project output. There are likely to be many benefits from the use of the AUTOPIC autonomous vehicle and its robotics and we believe that the new technology will be transformative for a new UK industry.

Control of soilborne pathogens such as Verticillium wilt has become a major problem in UK horticulture since withdrawal of the broad-spectrum chemical fumigant methyl bromide. A previous project involving the RTO's investigated biofumigant green crops as replacements for methyl bromide. Cultivation and incorporation of biofumigant crops proved difficult, but a brassica seed meal soil amendment and lavender byproducts were highly effective against Verticillium wilt in strawberry. Various isothiocyanates in the former and monoterpenoid compounds in the latter were identified as the active chemicals. This project will exploit this knowledge to develop novel biofumigant products for control of soilborne diseases, particularly Verticillium wilt in strawberry, but with potential application to a much wider range of crops including raspberry, potato and cotton. Firstly, microencapsulation technology will be adapted to develop a slow-release formulation of the biocidal terpenoid compounds in lavender and delivery systems appropriate for use by growers. Secondly, the possibility of producing a novel, pelletised formulation of lavender waste will be investigated as an alternative for organic growers. These and the brassica seed meal product will be evaluated in the laboratory and in several field sites for their efficacy against Verticillium wilt in strawberry, alone and in combination. Their effects on other soil-borne pathogens and non-target organisms will also be determined. The project will provide optimised strategies for using these new products in practice under different levels of pathogen inoculum and various soil moisture conditions.