The EIT Food-funded LinkDAPA project, led by Professor Alistair Murdoch, Professor of Weed Science, provides arable farmers with a low-cost, simple way to use big data to help highlight areas of their fields that are likely to give higher yields.
New platform will enable wheat farmers to use precision farming to improve yields and grain quality.
Prof Alistair Murdoch, Professor of Weed Science at the University of Reading is leading the LinkDAPA project. He said:
“The aim of LinkDAPA is to help farmers use ‘big data’ to help them be more profitable, more precise in their planning and also benefit the environment. Complex ‘big’ data sets have up until now been unviable for applying in a small setting, but through LinkDAPA they are now available for each field to optimise profitability of their current crops using precision agriculture approaches.
“One of the exciting developments that we’ve been working on this year is that the LinkDAPA platform is able to predict how likely it is that a farmer will increase their profits by following precision crop management compared to uniform applications.
“Another innovative opportunity that can also be achieved by using the platform is an option of zonal harvesting for to reduce grain drying costs or increase likelihood of achieving higher grain protein quality premium).”
All farmers (in Italy, Germany and the UK) in whose fields the research is taking place, readily agreed with the importance of the system. Simon Beddows of Coppid Farming near Reading, with whom the team are working, expressed the view that the approach is the “future of farming”.
The project has been developed in partnership between the University of Reading, University of Hohenheim, Germany, and agriculture firms John Deere and Agricolus.
See more information about the project on video
Further information about the EIT Food-funded LinkDAPA project can be found at: