Ag Tech Products & AgTech Services News

Sencrop Aims to Help Every Farmer with Daily Agricultural Decision-Making

Its network of interconnected, low-cost in-field sensors provides affordable, user-friendly, data driven grower solutions. Super-localized data collection allows decisions to be made accurately and objectively, improving operational efficiency and optimizing the use of crop inputs such as fungicides, herbicides and fertilizers.

More than 6,000 individual stations are now in operation across mainland Europe. Since its launch in the UK at the beginning of 2019, Sencrop has installed more than 100 units to record and share data across British farms.

Key points
- In-field station monitors up to nine parameters: wind speed, direction and gusts; humidity; air temperature; rainfall; soil moisture; and soil temperature. A leaf wetness sensor is an optional accessory.
- Automatic data transfer to the cloud four times an hour, 24/7, powered by long-lasting (two years) battery.
- Reliable data connection, irrespective of local mobile signal strength.
- Data stream and analysis available from a browser as well as smartphone app, allowing entirely remote monitoring.
- Seven-day forecast always available, plus weather history
- User-configurable alerts can be set for any combination of parameters and trends, e.g. frosts, minimum temperature, rainfall over set period, rising humidity, etc.
- User dashboard can be shared with other users, e.g. agronomist or advisers

- Helps farmers (and their advisers) to make decisions on numerous operations. For example:
o Monitor soil temperature and moisture to ensure herbicide applications are made at the most effective time in cereal and oilseed rape crops

o Humidity, rainfall, temperature and wind speed recording help identify Smith Periods and aid decision-making for blight sprays in potatoes

o Identify critical stages in cereal disease development (Septoria, light leaf spot, etc), allowing optimal spray timings

- Provides clear, evidence-based data for farm records and proof of compliance with statutory label directions and buyer and processor protocols.

Models
Three Sencrop models are available. Each comes complete with its mounting tripod and a two-year warranty, and a one-year subscription for access to the app, online portal and technical support (WhatsApp, email and telephone).

Raincrop: monitors humidity, air temperature and rainfall. £380 plus £150 subscription

Windcrop: windspeed, direction and gusts. £330 plus £150 subscription

Sencrop Plus: Raincrop and Windcrop together. £699 plus £180 subscription

Growers can trial Raincrop and Windcrop free for one month.

Data sharing
Each Sencrop unit is fully functional as a standalone device, uploading information to a single user account. Every user can decide whether they wish to share data through the Sencrop network.

But there is strength in numbers: the entire system’s accuracy improves with each and every additional unit that feeds in data. This is even more pronounced when data is collected from several units in close proximity.

Sencrop believes this ‘crowdsourcing’ model can create a farmer-centric network that can aid operational decision-making, maximise input efficiency and contribute (through matching weather patterns to yield data) to future crop management decisions.

Sencrop aims to make its network the UK’s first such crowdsourced farm data tool and wants to encourage other agtech providers to follow its lead. It would like to give access to these pools of data to all stakeholders within the industry: agronomists, contractors, researchers, plant scientists, insurers and suppliers, as well as farmers.

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse these vast amounts of data could identify new patterns and correlations. These could be used to develop new tools, products and services, bringing value to the whole supply chain and improving efficiency and margins, and bringing environmental gains.

UK operation
Sencrop launched its UK service at the beginning of 2019, with an office in Cambridge and a team of two, supported by the head office team.

It has more than 100 units in operation on UK farms (June 2019) and has set a target of xxx by the end of the year.

Source : https://sencrop.com/