This is a collaborative project to develop cost-effective digital autonomous slug monitoring, forecasting and precision-treatment tools. This would address arable farming’s biggest pest issue that causes £43.5M crop damage/annum for wheat and oilseed rape in the UK and for which there is currently just one form of control – ferric phosphate pellets. The aim is to develop two commercial services from current proof-of-concept:
– Patch prediction and precision mapping & autonomous slug treatment using nematodes.
BOFIN will develop the Slug Circle as the knowledge cluster around this project of those with special interest, including scientists and members of the public who have opted in, share experiences and knowledge and help shape the project. The aim is to achieve a membership of at least 300.
In addition, BOFIN will recruit 30 Slug Sleuths paid to carry out on-farm trials to ground truth and develop the technologies. These farmer members will also be paid to lead communication and dissemination activity to encourage adoption of the commercial services. Click here to get involved!
A webinar is being held on 15th August at 8:30am to launch this exciting project – it will highlight the protocol details, explain the project aims further, discuss how you can get involved and encourage good discussions, so make sure to sign up to the webinar by clicking here.
