Most British people now get a large proportion of their calories from processed and ultra-processed food and drinks stabilised chemically for a long shelf life and these foods are associated with rising nutritional disorders such as obesity and type 2 Diabetes. The cost and scarcity of labour close to our cities has caused retailers to source “fresh” food from distant areas such as Spain, Peru and so on. The changes to the ecosystems in areas such as Murcia in Spain are dramatic and unsustainable thus reducing food security. Growing our own vegetables and fruits close to the point of consumption has to be a key policy objective for the new government. We need to encourage more local production and the development of labour saving technology and this is what I have set out to do at Robot Hayes.
I have had a long career in agricultural engineering research co-inventing robotic milking, and developing sensors for monitoring dairy cow health and fertility. During the pandemic I sold my two start up businesses and used the money in 2022 to buy a small south facing field with good soil and road access so as to do my part in solving the food crisis which is destroying people’s health. The word Hayes is common in Devon signifying an enclosure or field so as I will develop and test robots here I gave it that name.
I now rent out 100 sq m allotments to local people to grow whatever they want. . The allotment system has been around in the UK for centuries but fell into the hands of local authorities who have been slow to respond to the huge demand for people to grow their own food. Allotment areas have long waiting lists even as some plots fall into disuse. A mature allotment area is often the most biodiverse area in the urban environment. There are hundreds of people on the waiting lists for allotments nearby. In the area East of the M5 at Exeter eight thousand (8000) new houses and flats are planned to join the 1000s already being built at Cranbrook with tiny gardens within a couple of miles of my field.
The enthusiasm of my dozen or so gardeners is overwhelming and a genuine community spirit is developing with many young families. I love the sound of children’s voices as they play in the gardens. Already we have buzzards and owls flying over as the vole and field mice populate the uncultivated fringes of woodland that I have planted and herons look for prey in the ponds. I daresay some existing locals will dislike the visual intrusion and prefer vast empty fields of commodity crops. More farmers should offer allotments, it doesn’t require planning permission and has a margin per hectare ten times that of cereals.
I retain a number of plots for myself so that I can develop systems to make organic vegetable production less labour intensive. No-one enjoys weeding vegetables, it is back breaking and continuous during the growing season. Our rental contracts are based on the typical local authority contract but with more flexibility and we have a few site rules such as no chemical pesticides or fertiliser so the emphasis is on innovating organic types of husbandry.
I bought and installed my first robot in a polytunnel in 2023. It is an open source design from farmBot in California using a Raspberry Pi computer running in the Python language and has many features that I have not had a chance to explore yet. I mostly use it for watering and hoeing and this winter I hope to demonstrate fresh vegetable production in our mild Devon climate. It needs to run in a polytunnel raised bed to protect its electroonics and aluminium drive rails from the weather. Because of its precision I think I will focus on raising seedlings of exotics (peppers and spices etc) in pots for planting out in the spring. With my hard won expertise I think we can start offering robotically managed polytunnels to hotels and restaurants and private houses locally to grow their own organic produce with minimal labour. I need to find a business partner who can focus on developing that business.
Polytunnels have their place but we can grow a lot in open field situations and this is the focus of my engineering activity this year. I currently have a Defra funded Farm Innovation grant managed by InnovateUK to develop safer working practices for horticulture. I cannot say too much as some of the technology that I and my small team are developing will be patented. Our focus is to convert existing tractors to be more precise and safe. Modern SatNav systems can accurately position a hoe blade to within a centimetre of a target, which means that we can develop sowing and weeding systems that do not require manual labour. Cutting and porting vegetables is still very labour intensive, often on muddy winter fields so we need safety systems that will stop a machine if someone is in danger. Farm accidents with moving machinery are still common and we need new technology to reduce risks.
