14TSB_ATC_IR_Optimising Big Data to Drive Sustainable Agricultural Intensification

This project will address key agronomic/soil related challenges currently impeding sustainable intensification (SI). Current levels of wastage and field losses across the UK horticultural sector are not sustainable and are largely attributed to soil degradation-related constraints and inappropriate crop management approaches. This project will focus on minimising wastage and field losses as underpinned by sustainable soil management. Soils are the foundation of food production as they support crop production, and for growers, soil is their primary business asset.

We will drive SI in horticultural and arable production systems by creating a coherent agri-informatics data set covering a comprehensive range of rotations derived from potato, cereals, oil seeds, sugarbeet, alliums, roots and brassica's of unprecedented resolution and scale (5-10 years' worth of data covering >20,000 ha). We will use methods particular to agri-informatics, which consist of data-mining and computational techniques that identify and describe the environmental and agronomic drivers of crop production and crop utilization such as Bayesian belief networks, neural networks, and random forests to determine how the history and prevailing context of a field influences its current state, performance and potential for future utility (SI), and elucidate how metrics of soil health can be used for system monitoring, management and improvement.

The data framework to realise this project is already established via the 'Soil-for-Life' (SfL) system an existing company scale Soil Information Management System underpinned by the aforementioned 'agri-informatics' approaches. The SfL system permits the collation of soil physico-chemical and biological parameters, specific indicators of 'soil health', crop, varietal, agronomic, meteorological, water and economic data, all deployed to support the suite of related analytical and data mining tools. This project will develop mobile applications and related web data services which will be deployed to provide growers in the field with synchronous, geo-referenced access to the SfL databank. Growers will be able to consult the harmonised data holdings on a parcel basis, field by field, both for historical and contemporary operations. Summary results from the agri-informatics analytical tools will also be provided. Thus outcomes from geographic locations judged to be similar environmentally will be made accessible, highlighting actions taken and outcomes - allowing for knowledge transfer between growers. This project will allow an in-depth analysis and exploration of this 'big data', providing robust scientific evidence to support SI and to maintain soil health at a field, farm and enterprise scale. This project will act as a catalyst for a step-change in the way that 'big data' currently generated and stored locally by UK Agri-businesses is combined and critically, fully utilised.

This project will address key agronomic/soil related challenges currently impeding sustainable intensification (SI). Current levels of wastage and field losses across the UK horticultural sector are not sustainable and are largely attributed to soil degradation-related constraints and inappropriate crop management approaches. This project will focus on minimising wastage and field losses as underpinned by sustainable soil management. Soils are the foundation of food production as they support crop production, and for growers, soil is their primary business asset. We will drive SI in horticultural and arable production systems by creating a coherent agri-informatics data set covering a comprehensive range of rotations derived from potato, cereals, oil seeds, sugarbeet, alliums, roots and brassica's of unprecedented resolution and scale (5-10 years' worth of data covering >20,000 ha). We will use methods particular to agri-informatics, which consist of data-mining and computational techniques that identify and describe the environmental and agronomic drivers of crop production and crop utilization such as Bayesian belief networks, neural networks, and random forests to determine how the history and prevailing context of a field influences its current state, performance and potential for future utility (SI), and elucidate how metrics of soil health can be used for system monitoring, management and improvement.
The data framework to realise this project is already established via the 'Soil-for-Life' (SfL) system an existing company scale Soil Information Management System underpinned by the aforementioned 'agri-informatics' approaches. This project will allow an in-depth analysis and exploration of this 'big data', providing robust scientific evidence to support SI and to maintain soil health at a field, farm and enterprise scale.

The principal impacts we wish to attain with this project are (i) significant improvements in crop production and crop utilization across the PW Group resulting in direct increases in crop packout, operational efficiencies and income; (ii) wider awareness of Soil-for-Life (SfL) as the exemplar of the use of 'Big Data' and agri-informatics approaches to underpin Sustainable Intensification (SI); (iii) establishment of a firm platform for the wider adoption of SfL by UK agri-businesses (iv) practitioner (including levy boards), societal and policy level appreciation of the fundamental role of soil management in underpinning SI (v) utilisation of the cross-sectoral knowledge generated by this project by UK agri-businesses; (iii) utilisation of the data and knowledge generated by this project by the academic community.

1. Overarching project communication and promulgation:
To ensure full access in the public domain of up-to-date project activities and outputs, we will publish project-specific webpages, hosted on the Cranfield server, from the outset to introduce the work and describe approaches, subsequently to highlight progress, and to provide links to the existing companion SfL website. [Milestones: Revise existing website (Y1). Maintain and update website over duration of project (Y2,Y3,Y4)]. In addition,we will periodically (nominally at outset, mid-way and end) describe the project and associated outputs, via articles in the Cranfield E-zine (an opt-in electronically promulgated magazine) which is currently (2014) sent to >1750 relevant professionals in the sector. [Milestones: Publish Ezine articles].

2. Specific beneficiaries:
PW Group & participating PW Growers. This will comprise PW agronomists and key growers with whom the project partners would welcome insight and dialogue through the Project Advisory Group (PAG). Involvement of the PAG members in terms of realising wider adoption of 'Soil-for-Life' (SfL) via their associated networks will be encouraged. Particular emphasis will be placed on the levy boards and supermarkets. The PAG will stay in touch with project progress, inform the core team of opportunities and viewpoints, and interact with the wider stakeholder group via the project Web presence. The intention is to hold quarterly meetings of the PAG and one full project meeting per annum for a review and preview of the activities, progress and outcomes and a final wider dissemination meeting in 2017. Representatives of relevant levy boards will be invited to attend dissemination events held to coincide with these annual meetings. In addition, to facilitate route to market of SfL representatives of the Waitrose Agronomy Group (WAG) and Sainsbury's Sustainability Groups will also be invited to attend. Representatives from other major UK and global agri-businesses who are already aware of SfL will also be invited. The final project dissemination meeting will coincide with an industry wide dissemination event to which representatives from over 50 organizations to which SfL is directly relevant will be invited to attend. [Milestones: PAG, quarterly meetings, annual meetings and dissemination meetings.