18 - Small Robot Company (Part 1) - Not Just Any Old Tom, Dick And Harry!

This week Andrew is in London interviewing Sam Watson Jones from the Small Robot Company - an agri-tech start-up focused on revolutionising the way that technology is used to farm. Sam is a fourth generation farmer, inspired by the work of Simon Blackmore in the National Centre for Precision Farming at Harper Adams and his vision for replacing much of the work done by tractors in fields with a series of high accurate, smart, lightweight robots. Following interviews with farmers the small team are focused on efficiently building an AI driven robotic service where three robots named Tom, Dick and Harry are out in the field collecting data and individually spraying weeds etc., whilst back at the farm, running the show, is Wilma. Wilma uses precise, up-to-date data from Tom and converts it into crop care instructions that, with the farmer's approval, are implemented by Dick and Harry.  In part one of this two-parter, Sam explains why he thinks this is the future of farming, a greener solution which uses the unique convergence of technologies from more efficient batteries to AI and satellite tracking systems.  The Dewing Grain market report for week commencing 07/01/2019 gives you Andrew's latest insights into the markets and, as it's January, in Farmchat Andrew and Webby are sticking to the water as they discuss merchants' dreams of what they would like farmer's New Year's resolutions to be. Thanks to our sponsors this week:  Ben Burgess - East Anglia's premier agricultural, construction & grounds care equipment retailer. www.benburgess.co.uk The Dewing Grain Podcast is co-produced by www.eastcoastproduction.co.uk and www.tinshedproductions.co.uk Dewing Grain - Independent grain trader for Norfolk & Suffolk 01263 731550 - www.dewinggrain.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.