The UK is now facing productivity constraints in agriculture that, as yet, remain unconquered. It is critical that these constraints are addressed so UK agriculture can compete in an increasingly global market, and secure its future. This is particularly important in the context of a post-Brexit UK, and uncertainty over future levels of direct support and trade agreements. Robotic Harvesting ('RH') is a technology that makes farms more efficient and automates the crop production cycle. RH can reduce labour, pesticide usage, and environmental impact, while increasing crop quality and yield. Some experts believe that robotic farming is the future of agriculture. The potential benefits of RH include: * Increasing the efficiency and reliability of work by analysing data and performing tasks without human errors or fatigue. * It can produce more crops with higher quality and meet the consumer demand for sustainably-produced products. * It can create new opportunities for smaller enterprises and more diverse forms of agriculture, if designed ethically and inclusively. Calabrese (broccoli) is a high value vegetable. According to the Office for National Statistics ('ONS'), the average retail price of broccoli in the UK was £1.84 per kilogram in 2022\. According to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ('DEFRA'), the average yield value of £7,600 per hectare. According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, in 2017 the estimated gross value per acre of fresh market broccoli in the US was $6,800 The factors that influence the economics of broccoli production include: * The market price of broccoli, which depends on the supply and demand, seasonality, and quality of the product. * The production costs of broccoli, which vary depending on the location, labour, inputs, and practices used. * The yield of broccoli, which depends on the variety, planting date, weather, pest and disease management, and harvest stage. * The post-harvest handling and packaging of broccoli, which affect the quality, shelf-life, and marketability of the product. Broccoli is a good target for RH because it is a high-demand and high-value vegetable that requires manual harvesting by human workers and only 20% of the plant is used, the rest being unused. RH could reduce labour costs, increase productivity, and improve quality of the broccoli harvest. This project pertains to developing a proof-of-concept RH system for broccoli in to a pre-manufacturing prototype for scale deployment and acquiring the data in use to allow further optimisation and proof of the positive economics of adoption.

The UK is now facing productivity constraints in agriculture that, as yet, remain unconquered. It is critical that these constraints are addressed so UK agriculture can compete in an increasingly global market, and secure its future. This is particularly important in the context of a post-Brexit UK, and uncertainty over future levels of direct support and trade agreements. Automated Harvesting ('AH') is a technology that makes farms more efficient and automates the crop production cycle. AH can reduce labour, pesticide usage, and environmental impact, while increasing crop quality and yield. Some experts believe that robotic farming is the future of agriculture. The potential benefits of AH include: * Increasing the efficiency and reliability of work by analysing data and performing tasks without human errors or fatigue. * It can produce more crops with higher quality and meet the consumer demand for sustainably-produced products. * It can create new opportunities for smaller enterprises and more diverse forms of agriculture, if designed ethically and inclusively. Calabrese (broccoli) is a high value vegetable. According to the Office for National Statistics ('ONS'), the average retail price of broccoli in the UK was £1.84 per kilogram in 2022\. According to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ('DEFRA'), the average yield value of £7,600 per hectare. The factors that influence the economics of broccoli production include: * The market price of broccoli, which depends on the supply and demand, seasonality, and quality of the product. * The production costs of broccoli, which vary depending on the location, labour, inputs, and practices used. * The yield of broccoli, which depends on the variety, planting date, weather, pest and disease management, and harvest stage. * The post-harvest handling and packaging of broccoli, which affect the quality, shelf-life, and marketability of the product. Broccoli is a good target for AH because it is a high-demand and high-value vegetable that requires manual harvesting by human workers and less than 20% of the plant is used, the rest being unused. AH could reduce labour costs, increase productivity, and improve quality of the broccoli harvest. This project pertains to developing a Machine Learning model from the data outputs of an Automated Harvester that has been developed in the UK and trialled at two UK farms. Developing such a model will further improve the productivity improvements that an Automated Harvester offers, delivering value to UK farmers including at a named farm who will be the first adopter.

SusProt is unique in creating an on-farm platform to exploit currently unharvested food-grade broccoli biomass and extract food-grade protein from it along with other valuable co-products. The on-farm application and exploitation of currently unutilised broccoli biomass offers significant economic and emission reduction opportunities. Success here will see the platform application extended to other unused primary crop food-safe biomass