A network of weather stations could give real-time support to decision-making on UK farms, according to Sencrop, a leading European digital start-up business with a new base in Cambridge.
Sencrop’s wireless network technology uses innovative weather stations on individual farms.
These gather a range of local agri-environmental data including air temperature, rainfall, humidity, leaf wetness, and wind speed in real time. The information feeds into a user-friendly dashboard, accessible on desktop or through a mobile app, providing history, alerts, trends and seven-day forecasts.
This new technology enables farmers to make decisions on a daily basis through field-level weather statistics, with one or more weather stations providing specific, localised data that saves time, money and increases efficiency. However, the real power of the Sencrop system is unleashed through the collaboration of neighbouring farmers sharing data via a seamless transmission from their individual field stations.
Decisions can now be made not just from the farmer’s own personal data but via local analysis and recommendations. This has already been proven elsewhere in Europe where Sencrop has operated since 2016 and today has 5,000 farmers, wine growers and arboriculturalists using the network to manage decisions such as sowing, irrigation and disease control programmes.
Sencrop’s aim is to create real value from extensive data that will benefit the agricultural community including farmers, agronomists, contractors, research organisations, insurers, and industry suppliers by offering more effective, faster and automated distribution of services and advice, tailored to specific, individual needs.
Sencrop entered the UK market in November 2018. Already 100 stations have been installed in the UK, and the pipeline is growing thanks to the company’s stand at LAMMA 2019 generating even more enthusiasm amongst farmers and advisers. To accelerate its growth in the UK and internationally, Sencrop has just raised $10m in funding.
Martin Ducroquet, co-founder of Sencrop says: “We are entering the UK market at a very exciting time and the feedback from both farmers and the wider industry has been extremely positive. In a sector that is becoming increasingly digital, we will continue to develop data analysis solutions that meet the needs of farmers. Our aim is to establish Sencrop as a global leader in agricultural data. We will enable individual farmers to benefit from our key decision-making tools that are more efficient, and more personalised for their own crops and management systems than ever before.”
Sencrop weather stations are quick and simple to install. Low up-front costs and an affordable subscription model make multi-station weather data sharing achievable for all farm businesses and farming communities.
