Big Crop Data Project

c-spoon

Member
Hi everyone,

My friend and I are students at the University of Warwick. We are looking into big data and agriculture for our research project. We don't want to spend lots of time building an application that no one wants to use, so it would be great to hear some feedback from actual crop farmers. This should help guide which problems to focus on and create a tool that complements current farming workflows. We're happy to talk more about the project with anyone interested (we're really excited)!

Please dm if you are interested - we'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,

c-spoon
 

c-spoon

Member
To clarify, we are not looking for any input data, but rather to present our ideas and gain an insight into general workflow, software tools currently used (Excel, Granular...?). Ideally we would discuss the limitations / your frustrations with the tools currently at your disposal and build something to improve on that. We would then publish research studying how software could be used to increase yield sustainably.
 

Spencer

Member
Location
North West
Is there not an arrogance about how you feel the limitations to an arable farmers yield and his ability to sustain his business lies in a piece of software?
 

c-spoon

Member
That's a fair question.

We are not looking to replace the knowledge of experienced arable farmers. We instead want to provide a tool to complement the preexisting workflow. It's a study to see if software can the help business, not necessarily assuming that it can.

We have a mathematics/statistics/computer science background, and we are trying to round out our perspective of agriculture by talking to farmers.
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
That's a fair question.

We are not looking to replace the knowledge of experienced arable farmers. We instead want to provide a tool to complement the preexisting workflow. It's a study to see if software can the help business, not necessarily assuming that it can.

We have a mathematics/statistics/computer science background, and we are trying to round out our perspective of agriculture by talking to farmers.
If it can tell me the weather for the next 12 months that would be absolutely perfect.
 

c-spoon

Member
If it can tell me the weather for the next 12 months that would be absolutely perfect.
Software that can accurately predict or better yet control the next years weather is really all we need...
Haha that would be great! One of our biggest points of focus will be statistical modelling of historical and future weather data, and how that could be merged with other data sources.
 

farmerm

Member
Location
Shropshire
Haha that would be great! One of our biggest points of focus will be statistical modelling of historical and future weather data, and how that could be merged with other data sources.
will it come with the DISCLAIMER: Please remember that past weather performance may not be indicative of future weather events, the decision to fill the sprayer/cut hay/start ploughing/apply fertiliser is taken entirely at your own risk...
 

c-spoon

Member
Christ, if it could forecast the weather for the next 12 days accurately if would be a step in the right direction.
Big data, software solutions 🙄🙄
Would you be able to tell us how you currently get weather data (online, BBC, TV, ...)? Would it be useful if we cumulated multiple sources in one place?
 

Jackall

Member
Can I say as someone getting older in the tooth There is so many apps/ site Bbc met and others that say one thing in for the week and waiting-for the weather window forecast rarely is accurate. I had better chance just getting on with work on a daily forecast and trusting my view out of the window. Most farmers will know their area and you maybe surprised how many micro climates there are. I have seen a 10mil rain one end of 30ha field and can combine the other end still bone dry. I wouldn’t think your app would be that precise. Sorry
 

c-spoon

Member
Can I say as someone getting older in the tooth There is so many apps/ site Bbc met and others that say one thing in for the week and waiting-for the weather window forecast rarely is accurate. I had better chance just getting on with work on a daily forecast and trusting my view out of the window. Most farmers will know their area and you maybe surprised how many micro climates there are. I have seen a 10mil rain one end of 30ha field and can combine the other end still bone dry. I wouldn’t think your app would be that precise. Sorry

So you are saying that one of the limitations of conventional weather data is that it is unable to respond to feedback from farmers in a local area... What if we provided the option to enter your own data/predictions and that would dynamically change the outcomes from the program. Then data would be shared amongst farmers in a particular area, providing extremely localised weather information. We can think of it as both social and geographic weather data.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Hi everyone,

My friend and I are students at the University of Warwick. We are looking into big data and agriculture for our research project. We don't want to spend lots of time building an application that no one wants to use, so it would be great to hear some feedback from actual crop farmers. This should help guide which problems to focus on and create a tool that complements current farming workflows. We're happy to talk more about the project with anyone interested (we're really excited)!

Please dm if you are interested - we'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,

c-spoon


Look up the YEN project - there is a section on TFF. This is a big data capturing exercise aiming to ascertain if there are any commonalties linked to superior physical and thence financial performance. Run by ADAS with industry collaborators. Hutchinsons are trying same with there Omnia product.

 

bitwrx

Member
Have a look at Farmax. I don't use it, but my understanding is it sets current year info against averages from previous years in order to inform current year decisions.

Tbh, there may be few farmers on here who are sufficiently data-geeky to engage with what you are trying to achieve. I would be interested, but I'm a pig farmer, which means 2 things:
  1. I don't grow crops.
  2. I'm losing so much money right now I don't really care about the marginal gains any data-driven approach would get me. Right now, I just need to stop haemorrhaging cash.
 

Jackall

Member
I sorry mr c- spoon. After two sh1t autumns 19/20 plus harvest 20 I couldn’t careless about prediction milling wheat waits for know one. Just like diareah. I trust my years of experience drill early and dry wheat What ever area you go into all the cr a p theories will be questioned in real life.
 

c-spoon

Member
Have a look at Farmax. I don't use it, but my understanding is it sets current year info against averages from previous years in order to inform current year decisions.

Tbh, there may be few farmers on here who are sufficiently data-geeky to engage with what you are trying to achieve. I would be interested, but I'm a pig farmer, which means 2 things:
  1. I don't grow crops.
  2. I'm losing so much money right now I don't really care about the marginal gains any data-driven approach would get me. Right now, I just need to stop haemorrhaging cash.
Ah man sorry to hear that... Thanks for the tip though, we'll be sure to check them out and it's nice to hear of your interest.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,291
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top