Catapult and Precision Decisions developing agri-tech app
Marketing
The Satellite Applications Catapult and Precision Decisions (a precision farming company) are co-developing software tools that will enable UK farmers to use satellite data to assess variability across different fields.
The Field Variability Assessment Tool aims to improve farmer access to Earth observation (EO) data and help decision-making around investment into precision farming services. While historic satellite EO data is freely available, offers a valuable resource and an opportunity for farmers to evaluate the historic variability within their fields, current tools do not allow them to readily exploit this data, as the data sets are complex and lack compatibility with farmers’ existing systems.
The Catapult’s Applied Digital Intelligence team is responsible for data processing, while Precision Decisions is building the software tools and apps to deliver the data to the farmer in a format that is both accessible and easy to digest.
Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult, said: “This project is an important milestone in our engagement with the agri-tech sector. Our expertise in exploiting EO data, combined with Precision Decisions’ specialist skills and experience in precision agriculture, will ultimately deliver an outstanding solution that allows the UK farming community to benefit from EO imagery and demystify the use of satellite technology within the agricultural sector.”
Rich Kavanagh, CTO of Precision Decisions, added: “Our aim is to develop an easy-to-use, low cost tool for arable farmers that will overlay data onto their existing field maps to illustrate where their greatest field soil variability is likely to be. Consequently, farmers will be able to focus their resources on those fields in order to get significantly improved returns from any investment in precision farming technology and services, whilst saving money when field variability is shown to be low.”
Precision Decisions has proven practical experience of developing novel software solutions for on-farm use, successfully delivering and deploying services to the agriculture sector and providing complete agronomic support to related services.
