Automated Selective Broccoli Harvesting to increase grower productivity and resillience towards net zero

Broccoli one of the UK's favourite vegetables is even today harvested by seasonal workers who walk in the crop to select and cut only the ripe broccoli heads.

Growers have been facing chronic labour shortages and increasing costs.

In 2021 £' millions of broccoli crops were left unharvested due to a shortage of seasonal labour UK.

For 2022 broccoli and brassica growers have cut back their plantings so more broccoli will be imported to meet needs -- driving up costs and increasing food mile CO2 emissions.

Farmers across the world are searching for an automated harvesting solution. This project will take a world-leading proof of concept broccoli harvesting machine to infield testing in 2022 and a pre-production prototype in 2023\.

The new automated approach will harvest the whole plant, opening up the potential to create valuable and nutritious plant-based foods from what was previously seen as crop waste.