Industry partnership aims to keep UK on top with hi-tech beet yield model

Peterborough, 26 June 2014: A new industry partnership is helping UK sugar beet growers maintain their leading position by making the most of environmental conditions to increase their annual yield.

Funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the partnership brings together British Sugar, remote sensing specialists Rezatec and agribusiness consultants Rectory Farmhouse Ltd, with additional support from the British Beet Research Organisation. Together they’re working on a 12-month project to combine the industry crop model (called the ABSugar BEETGRO model) with additional factors such as earth observation (EO), environmental and in situ farm datasets to improve the model’s predictive accuracy and increase beet growers’ harvestable yields. Funding and support from the Technology Strategy Board has been essential to allow the partnership to undertake the initiative effectively.

The improved sugar beet crop growth model will give growers an enhanced decision making system designed to help them manage environmental factors better and improve their yields. This would not only strengthen UK beet growing, but would also mean the model could be used internationally and even be applied to other crops.

The partnership is currently working with 20 beet growers in 40 fields with a range of soil types across the UK. Weather stations and soil sensing equipment is providing meteorological and environmental data for incorporation into the model and this will continue over the rest of the growing season.

Colm McKay, British Sugar’s Agriculture Director, said: “This is a great example of beet industry collaboration in a project that will help the UK maintain its world leadership in innovative sugar beet production and processing in the face of increased competition.”

“The Technology Strategy Board funding has been crucial at a time when food security and the need to manage land more effectively is an environmental and political necessity. Our improved yield production model will give growers a range of decision making options to help them become more efficient, more productive and more profitable” he added.”

Patrick Newton, Chief Executive Officer of Rezatec, said: “By aggregating and analysing large amounts of diverse data from satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and ground observations, Rezatec can deliver its environmental data products and services. Crop yield optimisation is one just of the many ways that we can provide economic benefit to the food industry.“

Roelof Kramer, Director at Rectory Farmhouse, said: “The increasing need to produce more food with the same or less resources requires smarter farming. Sustainable intensification of agriculture is best achieved through integrating and optimising the use of existing and new technologies. Rectory Farmhouse takes a holistic approach to farming and is proud to be the agribusiness consultancy provider in this sugar beet partnership.”

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Notes for editors

The Technology Strategy Board supports the development of innovative technologies and products. It offers a range of funding programmes and works with businesses of every size, universities and other organisations. TSB is an executive non-departmental public body of theDepartment for Business, Innovation & Skills. http://www.innovateuk.org/

British Sugar is the leading supplier to the British and Irish food and beverage markets. We operate four factories across East Anglia and the East Midlands employing around 1,800 permanent and contract staff directly at our facilities and support up to 13,000 UK jobs in the wider economy. Around 3,600 growers supply our factories with 7.5 million tonnes of sugar beet each year, which we process into over 1 million tonnes of sugar.

Sugar production is at the heart of our operations but using our highly integrated approach to manufacturing, we aim to transform all of our raw materials into sustainable products. We produce 500,000 tonnes of animal feed from sugar beet pulp. We recycle stones for building, lime for soil conditioning and soil for landscaping. Using our Combined Heat & Power plants, we export enough electricity for 160,000 homes and use the combustion gases to grow around 140 million tomatoes annually in the UKs largest single tomato glasshouse. We were also the first company to manufacture Bioethanol in the UK.

Over the past ten years, we have invested over £300 million to improve efficiency and competitiveness; in addition, we invest over £2m every year in research, development and education. We employ technicians, apprentices, graduates and experienced professionals for roles across the business and throughout the supply chain including engineers, accountants and project managers. Over past 10 years, we have recruited and trained over 100 graduates and 90 apprentices. British Sugar is part of AB Sugar, which is wholly owned by international food, ingredients and retail group, Associated British Foods plc.

Rezatec’s landscape intelligence platform aggregates large amounts of diverse data from satellite, airborne and ground instruments and through its mapping, measuring and monitoring services provides critical support for commercial, environmental and social decision-making for businesses. The platform captures a wide range of landscape characteristics in high spatial and temporal resolution and provides layers of geo-referenced information and associated analysis all within a user-friendly web-based dashboard tailored to each customer’s requirements. Headquartered within the Harwell Space Cluster, Oxfordshire, UK, Rezatec provides its data products and services to a wide range of industries including: food, energy, water, carbon and forestry. www.rezatec.com. Press contact: Philip Briscoe: email philip.briscoe@rezatec.com tel 01235 567396 or 07968 246054.

Rectory Farmhouse provides a range of consultancy services to companies operating, and investing, in the agribusiness sector. These services are for example market research and feasibility studies, business development and due diligence. The professional focus is on sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems in developing as well as in developed markets. The companies’ strength lies in the application of both operational and economical expertise in various crop value chains. www.rectory-farmhouse.com

“Optimising sugar beet growth yields through use of space and environmental data (#131557)”

The project “Optimising Sugar Beet Growth Yield through use of Space and Environmental Data” assesses the feasibility of combining earth observation (EO), environmental and in situ farm data to improve harvest productivity for growers of sugar beet and to enhance their capacity to manage the environment around the nation’s sugar beet crop. The project brings together British Sugar (BS), Rezatec and Rectory Farmhouse Limited as consortium partners and the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) provides in kind support to the project. The project utilises the nation’s investment in the capture of environmental data and in the processing of satellite information by leveraging existing national environmental data sets such as those provided by the Met Office and the CEMS (Centre for Environmental Monitoring from Space) at Harwell to process captured data. The project plans to make available improved sugar beet crop growth models to help UK growers maintain their leadership position in the face of increased competitive challenges worldwide.