Public Funding for East of Scotland Growers Limited

The SporeDRONES project is led by Geo.Geo Ltd. in partnership with the James Hutton Institute, Allium & Brassica Agronomy, Vegetable Consultancy Service Ltd., East of Scotland Growers, and James Hutton Ltd. Our aim is to combine unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology with portable molecular diagnostic tools to provide early detection of airborne inoculum of crop pathogens. Air sampling for crop pathogens is currently limited to static ground based monitoring, whereas the proposed mobile aerial system will be able to rapidly sweep large geographic areas at multiple heights in the atmosphere using a single piece of equipment and provide rapid pathogen identification. Results will be transformed into actionable information and maps using cloud-based technology and desktop / web-based GIS environments combined with newly developed epidemiological models. This will enable a targeted and rapid response to disease outbreaks and an effective tool for communicating risks to a wide audience. SporeDRONES can be used for: (i) intense surveillance of areas where there is a high likelihood of disease outbreaks; (ii) rapid response to local outbreaks; (iii) risk assessment to confirm the presence of inoculum and define the areas for eradication and protection measures; (iv) advanced warning at larger regional- and landscape-scales; and (v) follow-up surveillance to confirm that aerobiological threats have been eliminated. SporeDRONES will serve as a platform technology to which other diagnostic tools and epidemiological models can be added. It is recognised that the biosecurity of island nations is particularly vulnerable with the spread and establishment of new pests and pathogens through aerial transmission and infected plant material, the latter driven by global commerce. Both pathways of invasion depend upon a favourable climate for the establishment of the pest and pathogen. The biosecurity fragility of the UK is further enhanced with the current trajectory of a changing climate to warmer and wetter weather patterns ideal for many oomycete mediated diseases. SporeDRONES offers a genuine opportunity to mitigate the impact of new (and exisiting) aerial pests and pathogens by developing a holistic package from sampling to actionable information that would provide a rapid and user friendly early warning platform for growers and agronomists. Whilst developed and validated against two diseases, potato late blight and onion downy mildew, the platform technology is flexible and can be easily transferred and deployed onto other pest and pathogens.

UK generates 1.5 Million tonnes of food waste during production and processing. Many materials require stabilisation before use, drying is a common method. Drying of biomass materials is an energy intensive activity; current standard processes are focused around the use of belt dryers and significant volumes of heated air. RAPIDRY is focused on the ability to quickly dry fruits and vegetables cost effectively to remain the maximum nutritional profile and food safety. Critical to this is to reduce the consumption of energy, the project will demonstrate the energy benefits of distributed multi effect drying to the food and farming industry. RAPIDRY will create food ingredients suitable for use in processed foods that will support increase health and nutrition.