Public Funding for Aps Produce Limited

It is well accepted that due to Brexit, COVID, Ukraine and population demographics, the UK horticulture sector is heavily constrained by a lack of seasonal harvest labour. This year as crops have gone unpicked, NFU President Minette Batters stated that the sector was in an "absolute" food waste "crisis". DEFRA is working with industry to mitigate impacts. Evidenced through a multi stakeholder automation review cochaired by SoS Eustice, the recent Food Strategy White Paper (June 2022) called for a permanent solution to the labour constraint; transformation of labour productivity through the development and adoption of advanced robotics systems. Whilst globally no robotic system has yet reached human picking cost parity, the best systems in strawberry pick 2kg/h v target of 30kg/h, there is progress, not least by UK based SME's. The remaining key challenges for scaled adoption are; 1\. Higher speed picking to achieve human cost parity 2\. Evidence of trusted, assured and safe operation 3\. Integration of robotics with farm infrastructure and human resources However, as horticulture has high production diversity, the cost of developing robotics for commercial use across many different crops and systems is significant. Furthermore robot integration requires highly diverse skills, not-always available in start-up companies. AGRI-OPENCORE is a bold initiative to resolve these issues and focussed to \[1\] cut the time and cost to develop a robotic harvesting system for any farm/crop with human-cost-picking-parity performance \[2\] leave a legacy to accelerate development of any agri-robotic system for all crops AGRI-OPENCORE delivers these objectives through \[1\] unprecedented cross sector collaboration (APSSalads, BerryGardens, ClockHouseFarm, HughLoweFarm, UniversityofLincoln, Saga, Dogtooth, Xihelm, Wootzano), \[2\] creation of an open ecosystem for innovation, \[3\] scaled cocreation and demonstration of technologies on English farms. To deliver these objectives, AGRI-OPENCORE will create the world's first open development platform (software and hardware) for agri-robotic crop harvesting. AGRI-OPENCORE provides open access to core software and interfaces that are hitherto unavailable to SME's, but when adopted can be privately exploited by robotics companies (aka smartphone apps). We will demonstrate the principle by developing commercial robotic systems for tomato and strawberry harvesting that achieve human-picking-cost-parity in 2 years. AGRI-OPENCORE's open ecosystem creates an enduring legacy available for any robotic company / farming system. It accelerates robotic picking adoption (by \> 2 years), step changes labour productivity, secures an economic and environmentally efficient farming system (reduced waste/import substitution) that is resilient to shocks (labour availability).

Fresh tomatoes and peppers are high value crops and are an important part of a healthy human diet. These products are highly perishable and are subject to peaks and troughs in production. Low temperatures are currently used to extend shelf life, but the shelf life is short and energy costs are high. As a result, the supply chain for such products remains unacceptable wasteful. A plant hormone, ethylene, is key to the ripening process, the production of which can be minimised by the use of chemicals. Chemical application however remains a barrier to consumer acceptance; the project will develop the use of an innovative non-chemical non-contact technique which safely removes ethylene from the air around fresh produce. Commercial scale trials and laboratory investigations will be conducted to establish when and how to safely suspend ripening within the supply chain to deliver safe, high quality nutritious fresh UK produced food to the consumer.

One of the most costly problems growers of edible and non- edible horticulture crops face is loss in production and spoilage of harvested product to the fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis is commonly known as grey mould and is a significant factor in reduced shelf-life and consumer fresh produce waste. Standard 'control' techniques which involve direct spray application of fungicide are often ineffective. This project aims to develop an innovative non-contact approach to eradicate Botrytis both in the pre- and post- harvest environments for tomato and cut flower crops; this involves the use of ultra violet light to induce natural plant resistance mechanisms and the removal of the gaseous plant hormone ethylene to prevent Botrytis infection. The technique will minimise waste both in the production and domestic environments and extend shelf-life. It will also promote the industry's green credentials in meeting consumer expectations of available, residue free and safe fresh produce.

Botrytis, in a bad season can affect up to 30% of the tomato crop, potentially costing UK growers over £50 million!This is a project to show that our natural anti botrytis agents are effective against the disease. We plan to generate quantitative data to support this theory. Are the agents effective as curative and/or preventative agents.If effective these agents could contribute to greater profitability in this sector of the UK’s horticulture industry.