Interested in helping British farmers get smart tech!

[GrainBrain]

Hi, I'm new to the forum,

I have a goal I've been thinking about for some time to help bring smart tech and smart sensors to British farmers, in a way that gives the most options and best value.

Preferably in a way that doesn't lock people in to one 'system', but that overall that helps farmers and owners use the latest smart tech across their farm.

But also, while maintaining security, data protection and ease of use.

So... I'd like to know, where is the best place to chat about this (and is it even allowed)?

I'm not selling anything, and I won't be giving out links or asking for information etc.

Literally just seeing who is interested, and how much people know at this point and if/ where I can help as I have plenty of tech knowledge to share, and I've even seen some posts on the "Computers and I.T." section of this forum that are common, and probably easy enough for me to answer, so I'll do that if I have time.

I want to make this project as fair as possible, as easy as possible, and keep data secure, and make that data useful for farmers.

The goal, regardless of if I start a support-based business or not, is to genuinely help farmers. I can still make instructions and potentially tutorial videos available for the community.

Also, and hopefully, if I do start making things, I can build it in a way that farmers can use government grants to get started. I haven't looked into that yet though. Will probably get some financial advice on that later (not that I have any cash to plow into overpriced advisors or lawyers!).

I'll also answer any questions if people have them on smart devices for anything to do with agriculture. For example, about farm-wide mesh networks, or available sensors. Just tag me @GrainBrain

Cheers!


Disclaimer for mods:
I'm not part of a company doing this, nor am I doing market research for a company. I have no affiliation to any company either, this is literally my own personal interest in the matter to understand if there's a wide community interest. Thank you.

 

[Huno]

Hi, I'm new to the forum,

I have a goal I've been thinking about for some time to help bring smart tech and smart sensors to British farmers, in a way that gives the most options and best value.

Preferably in a way that doesn't lock people in to one 'system', but that overall that helps farmers and owners use the latest smart tech across their farm.

But also, while maintaining security, data protection and ease of use.

So... I'd like to know, where is the best place to chat about this (and is it even allowed)?

I'm not selling anything, and I won't be giving out links or asking for information etc.

Literally just seeing who is interested, and how much people know at this point and if/ where I can help as I have plenty of tech knowledge to share, and I've even seen some posts on the "Computers and I.T." section of this forum that are common, and probably easy enough for me to answer, so I'll do that if I have time.

I want to make this project as fair as possible, as easy as possible, and keep data secure, and make that data useful for farmers.

The goal, regardless of if I start a support-based business or not, is to genuinely help farmers. I can still make instructions and potentially tutorial videos available for the community.

Also, and hopefully, if I do start making things, I can build it in a way that farmers can use government grants to get started. I haven't looked into that yet though. Will probably get some financial advice on that later (not that I have any cash to plow into overpriced advisors or lawyers!).

I'll also answer any questions if people have them on smart devices for anything to do with agriculture. For example, about farm-wide mesh networks, or available sensors. Just tag me @GrainBrain

Cheers!


Disclaimer for mods:
I'm not part of a company doing this, nor am I doing market research for a company. I have no affiliation to any company either, this is literally my own personal interest in the matter to understand if there's a wide community interest. Thank you.

There might be a few people interested but the beauty about farming is the Art not the Science so no real need for tech... cheers

 

[GrainBrain]

There might be a few people interested but the beauty about farming is the Art not the Science so no real need for tech... cheers

I appreciate that. Each to their own.

I'm hoping there are plenty of other farmers who would like to give it a go, especially if it improves yields and saves cashflow, or makes them more profits, or just helps them to manage things and plan better for the future.

However, as we get our weather in celsius, milk in litres, beef in kilos; and use computers - and the internet, to read people's witty posts online...
I think it would be difficult to work in modern times, without these scientific advances in measurements and metrics we use every day.

But, change is difficult, and often unwanted. I do understand that.

My goal is to help make it as easy and as uncomplicated as possible, without tech jargon, and preferably without costing the earth.

---

We got here from the sickle and hoe, to the horse and plow, the seed drill, and then the internal combustion engine, eventually leading to today's advancements like GPS devices and modern veterinary techniques/ medicines.

Now comes a new frontier, fine grained (no pun intended) agricultural insights and metrics.

Eventually, I'd like farmers to be able to install/ manage this themselves, in the mean time, I'd like to share my knowledge and help create things farmers can all use to build a better Britain.

Why?

Well, why not... Our country seems more stalled than a car thief in a John Deere..

 

[Huno]

You want farmers to build a better britain? Wow.. That is way above a farmers pay grade! Try the city financiers in the square mile..Algorithmic metrics and big data everywhere. I think you should borrow my sythe and sycle for a week or two. The technological advances in Ag are all there to be had.. What is not there is the Finance because food is too cheap..

 

[GrainBrain]

@Huno
My goal is to genuinely try and make it affordable.

The main cost is setting it all up and ensuring it is kept running. As well as having engineers create new solutions, or ensure issues are fixed for farmers.

I had a section just above on some of the prices, but I'm interested to know how much you think it might cost to cover your farm in a private network, and have sensors in/ on your fields, buildings, vehicles etc.and then have that data show on a dashboard and be steup for alerts and insights?

£50,000?
£100,000?
£250,000?

None of those are very realistic, are they?

> My goal would be closer to £5,000.

Of course, that depends on the size of the farm, if there is livestock involved, and types of sensors.

I appreciate you're probably never likely to go down this route based on your previous posts, but if I can engage with even the most discerning and careful (or reluctant) farmers, to get an understanding going, hopefully many more people would take interest and we can try to make things better from that perspective.

That data will enable people to show what they are farming and when, so that they can hopefully push back against supermarket prices for example.

It's a free market economy and supermarkets want to get the lowest price which is why I want to help farmers prove the value of what they have with metrics to drive up prices for them. Or at least make better margins.

I don't want people to waste hard-earned money. But also I'm not asking people to 'give me cash and trust me'. I just want to help people get insights and metrics about their own farm.

I actually have a draft post to go on the job section of this forum, to see if someone would take me on at their farm, for a few months or so, room and board only, to put all of this tech on their farm - that they then get to keep, without actually giving me any money. It's a dream of an idea, and I don't think anyone's going to do it, but why not try?

If I can organise that, it helps me to implement this on a real farm, with a goal to partnering with that owner, to help others obtain and use this technology.
I'm not quite ready to go do that yet.
But if I did, I would do work on that farm where I can, even if my main goal would be to get all the sensors up and running (plus waterproofed, and solar powered) and work day and night testing and re-testing it.

I don't expect farmers to spend time understanding this technology. But helping them understand why it helps them I think could be very beneficial to the country as a whole if more and more people start using it to improve their margins.

 

[Danllan]

You are somewhat kicking the arse out of the idea...

 

[Goweresque]

I had a section just above on some of the prices, but I'm interested to know how much you think it might cost to cover your farm in a private network, and have sensors in/ on your fields, buildings, vehicles etc.and then have that data show on a dashboard and be steup for alerts and insights?

Does it work when covered in cow sh!t for 365 days of the year, battered by rain hail and snow for 10 years, and when the p***ys have nicked all the sensors and cabling or they've all been vandalised by local youths?

And how exactly does all your IT word soup make more grain grow, cows give more milk and cattle finish quicker, or make output prices rise, or input costs go down? So far your sales pitch seems to go:
1) I pay you £5k
2) You do all manner of wizzy IT things
3) A miracle occurs
4) I make more profit.

Does that about sum it up?

 

[Yale]

Can it tell me when I have a sheep on its back?

Suppose you could have an automated drone with AI to detect issues.

 

[Huno]

@Huno
My goal is to genuinely try and make it affordable.

The main cost is setting it all up and ensuring it is kept running. As well as having engineers create new solutions, or ensure issues are fixed for farmers.

I had a section just above on some of the prices, but I'm interested to know how much you think it might cost to cover your farm in a private network, and have sensors in/ on your fields, buildings, vehicles etc.and then have that data show on a dashboard and be steup for alerts and insights?

£50,000?
£100,000?
£250,000?

None of those are very realistic, are they?

> My goal would be closer to £5,000.

Of course, that depends on the size of the farm, if there is livestock involved, and types of sensors.

I appreciate you're probably never likely to go down this route based on your previous posts, but if I can engage with even the most discerning and careful (or reluctant) farmers, to get an understanding going, hopefully many more people would take interest and we can try to make things better from that perspective.

That data will enable people to show what they are farming and when, so that they can hopefully push back against supermarket prices for example.

It's a free market economy and supermarkets want to get the lowest price which is why I want to help farmers prove the value of what they have with metrics to drive up prices for them. Or at least make better margins.

I don't want people to waste hard-earned money. But also I'm not asking people to 'give me cash and trust me'. I just want to help people get insights and metrics about their own farm.

I actually have a draft post to go on the job section of this forum, to see if someone would take me on at their farm, for a few months or so, room and board only, to put all of this tech on their farm - that they then get to keep, without actually giving me any money. It's a dream of an idea, and I don't think anyone's going to do it, but why not try?

If I can organise that, it helps me to implement this on a real farm, with a goal to partnering with that owner, to help others obtain and use this technology.
I'm not quite ready to go do that yet.
But if I did, I would do work on that farm where I can, even if my main goal would be to get all the sensors up and running (plus waterproofed, and solar powered) and work day and night testing and re-testing it.

I don't expect farmers to spend time understanding this technology. But helping them understand why it helps them I think could be very beneficial to the country as a whole if more and more people start using it to improve their margins.

You dont get free board and lodging on my farm whilst you set up the Internet of Things (IOT) you dig ,cut,sythe harvest and sweat for 12 months first.. then you quit.. probably in week 1 and then you tell me i need your crap for 5k.. in the meantime enjoy mars mate!!!

 

[Huno]

@Huno
My goal is to genuinely try and make it affordable.

The main cost is setting it all up and ensuring it is kept running. As well as having engineers create new solutions, or ensure issues are fixed for farmers.

I had a section just above on some of the prices, but I'm interested to know how much you think it might cost to cover your farm in a private network, and have sensors in/ on your fields, buildings, vehicles etc.and then have that data show on a dashboard and be steup for alerts and insights?

£50,000?
£100,000?
£250,000?

None of those are very realistic, are they?

> My goal would be closer to £5,000.

Of course, that depends on the size of the farm, if there is livestock involved, and types of sensors.

I appreciate you're probably never likely to go down this route based on your previous posts, but if I can engage with even the most discerning and careful (or reluctant) farmers, to get an understanding going, hopefully many more people would take interest and we can try to make things better from that perspective.

That data will enable people to show what they are farming and when, so that they can hopefully push back against supermarket prices for example.

It's a free market economy and supermarkets want to get the lowest price which is why I want to help farmers prove the value of what they have with metrics to drive up prices for them. Or at least make better margins.

I don't want people to waste hard-earned money. But also I'm not asking people to 'give me cash and trust me'. I just want to help people get insights and metrics about their own farm.

I actually have a draft post to go on the job section of this forum, to see if someone would take me on at their farm, for a few months or so, room and board only, to put all of this tech on their farm - that they then get to keep, without actually giving me any money. It's a dream of an idea, and I don't think anyone's going to do it, but why not try?

If I can organise that, it helps me to implement this on a real farm, with a goal to partnering with that owner, to help others obtain and use this technology.
I'm not quite ready to go do that yet.
But if I did, I would do work on that farm where I can, even if my main goal would be to get all the sensors up and running (plus waterproofed, and solar powered) and work day and night testing and re-testing it.

I don't expect farmers to spend time understanding this technology. But helping them understand why it helps them I think could be very beneficial to the country as a whole if more and more people start using it to improve their margins.

But we do understand this "technology" and we also are often friends with the folks who invented the internet and coding who are pretty rude about those arrogant enough to meddle with apps and software, to think the digital age will feed people efficiently... hilarious really... best of luck...

 

[Vader]

I appreciate that. Each to their own.

I'm hoping there are plenty of other farmers who would like to give it a go, especially if it improves yields and saves cashflow, or makes them more profits, or just helps them to manage things and plan better for the future.

However, as we get our weather in celsius, milk in litres, beef in kilos; and use computers - and the internet, to read people's witty posts online...
I think it would be difficult to work in modern times, without these scientific advances in measurements and metrics we use every day.

But, change is difficult, and often unwanted. I do understand that.

My goal is to help make it as easy and as uncomplicated as possible, without tech jargon, and preferably without costing the earth.

---

We got here from the sickle and hoe, to the horse and plow, the seed drill, and then the internal combustion engine, eventually leading to today's advancements like GPS devices and modern veterinary techniques/ medicines.

Now comes a new frontier, fine grained (no pun intended) agricultural insights and metrics.

Eventually, I'd like farmers to be able to install/ manage this themselves, in the mean time, I'd like to share my knowledge and help create things farmers can all use to build a better Britain.

Why?

Well, why not... Our country seems more stalled than a car thief in a John Deere..

Not quite sure what your trying to do, but many farmers already have systems that record what's being done in the fields.
Just works through the GPS system.
All links to variable rate fert application, yield maps, variable rate seed drilling, etc

Is what you trying to do different?

 

[DrWazzock]

Any slight benefits from technology over and above the cost and complexity are just noise on the bottom line compared to the effects of weather and timeliness here. We reached peak techno benefit about year 2000 IMO.

 

[DrWazzock]

The only thing I can think of that might help is a solar powered robot that could roam grass fields spot spraying weeds. Somebody is probably already working on it.
Metrics and recording: well maybe an “is the soil safe to cultivate or drill?” metric.
A spray window alarm that wakes me up when it’s fit to spray? There’s some scope, but often it’s easier to just have a look yourself… and much depends on accurate weather forecasts which seems an impossibility.
Optimisation of rotations takes its wider.
What about optimisation of cropping and SFI option mix for profit? We do this by gut feeling but linear programming would be more accurate. Many many input factors though and probably incredibly complex. I’ll bet some big outfits do it though, like hedge fund managers do.

 

[DrWazzock]

At one time I’d have written an optimisation programme based on iterative numerical analysis but somehow I’ve completely lost enthusiasm.

 

[GrainBrain]

Any slight benefits from technology over and above the cost and complexity are just noise on the bottom line compared to the effects of weather and timeliness here. We reached peak techno benefit about year 2000 IMO.

That may be true, especially for smaller farms.

I actually don't have that much knowledge on farming itself, that's why I've been considering working on one or some sort of partnership with someone who's keen on it.

 

[GrainBrain]

Can it tell me when I have a sheep on its back?

Suppose you could have an automated drone with AI to detect issues.

Technically yes. That is possible.
There is an example already out that detects individual horses using machine learning.

I think the idea is to see how often the visit the water, or something similar.

 

[GrainBrain]

You dont get free board and lodging on my farm whilst you set up the Internet of Things (IOT) you dig ,cut,sythe harvest and sweat for 12 months first.. then you quit.. probably in week 1 and then you tell me i need your crap for 5k.. in the meantime enjoy mars mate!!!

Well that wouldn't have been the idea, it wasn't about me doing anything for free, it was to setup a partnership so that I could experience the reality of a farm, whilst making this happen, the partner would keep all the tech, obviously, and hopefully we could form a longer partnership with a goal to creating sensors that other farmers can get and use and lower costs.

As I mentioned, I'm still considering whether or not that would be the right move (including if I should just straight-up apply for a job on a farm to get experience! and do IOT my personal time).

Also, it's not my crap. It's research. I'm not selling anything. I stated that I wouldn't want anyone's money:

I'm not asking people to 'give me cash and trust me'.

The farmer would be in control of THEIR funds, because that budget would be directly going towards smart sensors for THEIR farm.
Never into my pocket.

 

[GrainBrain]

Does it work when covered in cow sh!t for 365 days of the year, battered by rain hail and snow for 10 years, and when the p***ys have nicked all the sensors and cabling or they've all been vandalised by local youths?

And how exactly does all your IT word soup make more grain grow, cows give more milk and cattle finish quicker, or make output prices rise, or input costs go down? So far your sales pitch seems to go:
1) I pay you £5k
2) You do all manner of wizzy IT things
3) A miracle occurs
4) I make more profit.

Does that about sum it up?

So no, not really. I'm not asking for payment.

It's not a sales pitch either

But 2 and 4 would be generally accurate. Though, I'm not asking to come do it for you.

Imagine you have a thing that looks like a WiFi box at your house (it's not WiFi but 433Mhz), then you screw a 'box' (sensor) onto a post, point the solar panel up, connect it using an app. That's it. You get info from it, no one else.

The data can be analysed by you, or machine learning which does things like learn the patterns on horses, or if a sheep is upside down (I didn't realise that was a thing!).
That data shows on a dashboard based on time, location or sensor, and you can view it over the long term, live or get alerts for things like open gates, or other sensor types (e.g. recognising badgers!).

I'm here to find out if people are interested, and if so, maybe design some sensors that people can buy direct from manufacturers at low costs and implement themselves.

Sure, later down the line it would be nice if I can run a service that helps people with that, and even some software that works with all the sensors, but that is a way off, and not the actual goal of this.

There is info out there that this works, so off the back of that, I want to help people to use it, and whilst I understand cynicism and suspicion (especially of people online), I haven't - and won't - post any links, nor try to sell anyone anything.

If you want recommendations, I can give them, but I don't have anything to sell!

N.B. Also I have ADHD, sometimes making people aware of that that helps them understand that my interests in a goal are about the things (literally IOT in this case), and not about people (nor money).
Also that I'm being sincere. Not that saying that proves anything, but still. Hopefully we can foster understanding.

Lastly, any hopefully without confusing anyone, the smart sensors in this project aren't really "smart" per-se, that's just a label people use. It's more realistic/ sensible to describe this as just standard sensors (pH, air, water, gas, temp, movement), that happen to save the data to a computer in your farmhouse or on-site office.

There's no AI, but I think that would really help people, and that's the part of this that is '2020s', rather than;

"about year 2000 IMO"

A sensor I'm interested in designing is one with a camera that activates a laser (harmless) that moves around to scare off birds or ground animals, without activating for livestock or working animals.

Cheers

 

[GrainBrain]

Not quite sure what your trying to do, but many farmers already have systems that record what's being done in the fields.
Just works through the GPS system.
All links to variable rate fert application, yield maps, variable rate seed drilling, etc

Is what you trying to do different?

In a way, yes.

1) I'm trying to democratise this kind of information and application, so it is easier to use for farmers who may be adverse to it, or technophobic. As well as share the kinds of existing free (software) tools they can use for this, and what benefits they get.

2) I'm trying to help farmers to implement this in a way that suits them once they have understood those benefits, so they can get more or better insights whether they get 1 or 2 sensors, or 500 sensors.

I guess I could do a post on 'how to build your own smart farm', but it would be many pages long, or hours of video. Mostly due to the technical side of things.

It would be easier for me to go, "here's a bunch of sensors you can buy". But I don't think everyone would want to built them, themselves.

But, I do want to give the community the options of building it themselves, because that's what I would do; whether it's tech, a shelf or gardening... DIY!

 

[Huno]

So no, not really. I'm not asking for payment.

It's not a sales pitch either

But 2 and 4 would be generally accurate. Though, I'm not asking to come do it for you.

Imagine you have a thing that looks like a WiFi box at your house (it's not WiFi but 433Mhz), then you screw a 'box' (sensor) onto a post, point the solar panel up, connect it using an app. That's it. You get info from it, no one else.

The data can be analysed by you, or machine learning which does things like learn the patterns on horses, or if a sheep is upside down (I didn't realise that was a thing!).
That data shows on a dashboard based on time, location or sensor, and you can view it over the long term, live or get alerts for things like open gates, or other sensor types (e.g. recognising badgers!).

I'm here to find out if people are interested, and if so, maybe design some sensors that people can buy direct from manufacturers at low costs and implement themselves.

Sure, later down the line it would be nice if I can run a service that helps people with that, and even some software that works with all the sensors, but that is a way off, and not the actual goal of this.

There is info out there that this works, so off the back of that, I want to help people to use it, and whilst I understand cynicism and suspicion (especially of people online), I haven't - and won't - post any links, nor try to sell anyone anything.

If you want recommendations, I can give them, but I don't have anything to sell!

N.B. Also I have ADHD, sometimes making people aware of that that helps them understand that my interests in a goal are about the things (literally IOT in this case), and not about people (nor money).
Also that I'm being sincere. Not that saying that proves anything, but still. Hopefully we can foster understanding.

Lastly, any hopefully without confusing anyone, the smart sensors in this project aren't really "smart" per-se, that's just a label people use. It's more realistic/ sensible to describe this as just standard sensors (pH, air, water, gas, temp, movement), that happen to save the data to a computer in your farmhouse or on-site office.

There's no AI, but I think that would really help people, and that's the part of this that is '2020s', rather than;



A sensor I'm interested in designing is one with a camera that activates a laser (harmless) that moves around to scare off birds or ground animals, without activating for livestock or working animals.

Cheers

That sensor for scaring off animals will work for a bit then they get used to it and you have to use different sensory tech to achieve the same effect.. telling the difference between 2 different types of animals for opening and shutting electric gates might have potential.. dont be defensive.. whilst you might have ADHD.. thats not an issue if you start to suggest practical solutions to practical people