Josef Fliegl und Bernd Stapel. (Image source: Fliegl)

Leading international manufacturer of agricultural transport solutions, Fliegl Agrartechnik GmbH and slurry technology and special solutions expert, Stapel GmbH recently announced their strategic collaboration aiming to utilise and expand existing synergies in the field of liquid manure technology and agricultural semi-trailer tractor units

The focus lies in developing solutions that make the agricultural use of tractor units more efficient and meet future requirements. The cooperation will drive forward product development and aims to boost efficiency by pooling the respective expertise and developing more efficient solutions in the field of slurry technology and agricultural tractor units. 

“This cooperation offers both companies the opportunity to combine their strengths and jointly develop innovative products for the agricultural machinery industry," explained Josef Fliegl, Jr managing director of Fliegl Agrartechnik GmbH. "We see enormous potential in the cooperation with Stapel to be able to offer our customers even more efficient and economical solutions in the future.” 

Users of CLAAS equipment can bring their machine data into CropX for visualisation, analysis, and creation of variable rate application tasks. (Image source: CropX)

Global precision agronomy platform, CropX recently announced its new digital connection with global agri machinery manufacturer, CLAAS, allowing users of CLAAS equipment to bring their machine data into CropX for visualisation, analysis, and creation of variable rate application tasks

The CropX agronomic farm management system combines data gathered from satellites and the field with agronomic knowledge and advanced AI-assisted machine learning to offer a comprehensive understanding of what is happening in the soil.

Users receive a snapshot of field conditions and receive recommendations on irrigation timing and quantity, nitrogen leaching, and fungal disease crop protection. In addition, users can import data from the world's most popular agricultural machinery brands, of which CLAAS is the latest. The data can be visualised and used to create maps for variable rate application of seeding, fertigation, and irrigation, and harvest yield maps can be added for planning future seasons.

"With CLAAS Connect and the new interface with CropX, we offer our joint customers enhanced interoperability between systems," said Wolf-Christian von Wendorff, SVP of Global Digital Solutions at CLAAS. "The seamless integration of agronomic data into the CropX platform enables customers to boost their productivity through informed decision-making, thereby enhancing the efficiency of practices such as irrigation."

One of the project's key components is the development of a mobile application that provides farmers with real-time weather data. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

As harsh weather conditions continue to hamper food security strategies globally, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Leicester aims at getting more farmers in Kenya to harness the insights of Earth Observation (EO) technologies

Extreme weather events have led to reduced agricultural yields, especially for those in Sub-Saharan Africa that largely depend on rain-fed agriculture. 

A PhD project at University of Leicester focuses on exploring how EO technologies such as remote sensing, satellite monitoring and land surface models for weather predictions and soil moisture assessments can equip farmers with the necessary data to make informed agricultural decisions.

One of the project's key components is the development of a mobile application that provides farmers with real-time weather data, which empowers them to plan their agricultural activities with greater accuracy. 

“Earth Observation technologies provide a strategic solution to enhance better farming practices but require better strategies for communicating with farmers to allay any ethical and environmental fears and improve their adoption,” said Fiona Imbali, PhD student in the University of Leicester School of Geography, Geology, and Environment. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the importance of working with local communities and respecting their indigenous knowledge for climate governance and this research will be working with indigenous farming communities to develop participatory science communication strategies for the adoption of EO technologies.”

In addition, she also emphasised how the disregarding women’s challenges would also hamper technology adoption. “This study will engage communities from the onset of the research to understand their challenges, priorities, as well as their socio-cultural perspectives and more so for the women who have always been considered as a homogenous group in order to develop participatory, inclusive communication approaches,” Imbali added. 

Farmers gather at the open day in Kinale to learn more about sustainable cooling. (Image source: University of Birmingham)

Kenyan farmers are getting a chance to attend a Clean Cooling Network open day, which will feature interactive demonstrations of various clean cooling technologies, including solar-powered pre-cooling and cold-storage and temperature-controlled refrigeration transport vehicles and solutions

The event is organised by the the African Centre of Technology Studies (ACTS) which is partnering with the Centre for Sustainable Cooling, University of Birmingham and UNEP to set up the Clean Cooling Network Reference Community Cooling Hub (CCH) in Kiambu County. 

Besides practical demonstrations, the Open Day also offered a platform to address challenges faced by farmers in regard to climate resilience, food security, nutrition and markets. Insights on the programme’s support, financing opportunities, and collaborative efforts were also shared by experts. 

The project aims to enhance the value of diverse and quality horticultural produce - improving quality, market access and connectivity through collective action to boost the livelihoods of farmers, their communities and the overall economy.

The co-operative seeks to offer a range of services including aggregation enabled by sustainable cold chain technologies and logistics, extension and advisory services, access to quality agro-inputs, and facilitation of wider market connectivity to deliver quality horticulture produce to consumers as well as training on all previously mentioned topics.

Farmers expressed great enthusiasm at the event and were also shown the 'try before you buy' cold-chain facilities that would enable them to understand and test the value-add of cold-chain for protecting the quality of produce and create new markets. Moreover, farmers will be able to use these facilities for an extended periods and 

The programme will act as a reference for roll-out into further communities in Kenya as well as new markets across Africa including Rwanda, Lesotho and Senegal as the next phase.

“This is a multi-year investment to build the necessary cold-chain system transformation pan-Africa to deliver inclusive, equitable and future-proofed cooling and cold-chain solutions with minimum environmental impact," said professor of Clean Cold at the University of Birmingham and Centre for Sustainable Cooling and Programme Lead, Toby Peters.