10108599AUTOFARM: Automating UAV Technology for Orchards to Focus Agricultural Resource ManagementClosedLaunchpadInnovate UKGlobal food systems are facing ever increasing pressures. A growing population with increasing demand for high nutrition food is being limited by food poverty, resource scarcity, climate risk and environmental concerns. The recent report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" from the UNFAO highlighted the urgent need for data-driven decision making on both a macro- and micro-scale to drive efficiency throughout the food production ecosystem. This is the only way that humanity can balance the economic and environmental costs of food production with the growing risk of food insecurity on both a national and international level. Outfield is already providing the first piece of this data solution to fruit growers internationally, allowing them to understand the state of their orchards/vineyards to increase yields and reduce resource demands. Our world-leading system allows growers to launch off-the-shelf drones to survey their crops and make precise interventions, increasing efficiency and productivity whilst mitigating the effects of ever variable weather. Exciting recent advances in drone technology, combined with upcoming changes in UK drone regulations, mean that for the first time it will be possible for this data to be gathered by Drone In A Box (DIAB) systems - self-flying drones launched automatically from a drone dock stationed permanently on the farm. This not only drastically reduces the labour effort required from growers to survey and assess their crops, but also enables continuous monitoring of the crops throughout the season, increases the sampling resolution, and has the potential to enable intelligent custom sampling in future projects. In this project, Outfield will deploy a DIAB system onto a commercial apple farm in the East of England, the first time this has been done in the UK. We will establish the operational procedures to install and operate this novel system safely, and build a business case for deploying these systems on UK farms. While all drone flights in the project will be strictly supervised, the project will prepare for fully remote operations in the future. Outfield’s existing crop surveying system has shown that high temporal frequency data can be game changing for efficient management of farms, and this project will give UK fruit growers better access to that data. Outfield will be ready to deploy AUTOFARM internationally in 2025 in collaboration with UK-based hardware developer Idroneimages. This has the potential to increase the fruit production of any orchard or vineyard by 10% immediately whilst slashing chemical use and waste in the supply chain. Along with the future potential for the technology, this project can make a huge impact on the global food systems we all rely on.