Agri-intelligence

Throws Farm Technology Centre becomes a LEAF Innovation Centre

The in-depth research carried out at Agrii’s iFarms and Technology Centres, alongside our Green Horizons initiative, has led to the accreditation of Throws Farm as a LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Innovation Centre. The official launch took place on Wednesday 13th October 2021.

LEAF are the leading organisation delivering more sustainable food and farming. Their mis­sion is to inspire and enable more cir­cu­lar approach­es to farm­ing and food sys­tems through inte­grat­ed, regen­er­a­tive and vibrant nature-based solu­tions. LEAF work closely with farmers, the food industry, scientists and consumers to promote and enable sustainable farming.

Agrii’s Throws Farm Technology Centre join twelve other LEAF Innovation Centres, which, together with LEAF Demonstration Farms, form the LEAF Network – a UK wide group of research organisations whose work supports the research, evidence, development and promotion of more sustainable farming delivered through Integrated Farm Management.

View the Throws Farm LEAF launch video below! (Note, the 360 degree features cannot be used in this video).

The following video outlines the cultural control work at our Stow Longa iFarm which has been on-going since 2002.

In 2010 we increased experiments to look at the effects of cultivation techniques over a 5 year period. This 7 minute video demonstrates how this experiment has progressed so far and includes visuals showing various levels of Blackgrass and the control methods used.

This work has been supported by Lemken UK and without their input would not have been possible.

Agrii is committed to on-going Research and Development; in fact we operate the most integrated, innovative and comprehensive trials network in the UK.

With 50,000 plots and 260 replicated trials across the country Agrii aims to ensure all crops and regions are fairly represented. Our 28 demonstration farms offer farmers the opportunity to experience the very latest R&D and allow us to join up agri-science with practical agronomy.

This investment, together with the most up to date IT farming platform to empower agronomists and farmers, enables Agrii to offer intelligent solutions to the world of agriculture and horticulture.

We call this Agri-intelligence – our unique approach to help farmers stay up to date with arable technology and agronomy led solutions to constantly improve yields, grow profitable crops and respond to ‘The Food Challenge’.

Investing more than £1 million annually

Agrii invests more than £1 million in innovative research and development annually, to ensure our agronomists are equipped with the most up-to-date information and to allow customers to be the first to benefit from improvements to crop performance. We generate ‘behind the label’ information on new products around dose rates, timing and partner products and we ‘road test’ these advances so that new technology is fully understood and proven before use on customers’ crops.

Ours is a systems-based, ‘integrated’ approach to investigate all components of successful crop husbandry and combine this with effective communication, interpretation and application to enable the benefits of research to be fully realised on farm.

What makes Agrii research different?

We believe our approach is distinctly different to other sources of information in three main respects:

Agrii takes an integrated approach

We adopt a unique integrated approach to the design of crop protocols. Our ‘coordinated growing systems’ examine in detail how each element of agronomy affects and interacts with another, enhancing our understanding and generating really practical advice for use on farm.

Agrii Events

We have a model in place to facilitate two-way learning and communication of research findings. Our demonstration network, in which new technologies and approaches are put into practice, allows for discussion and challenge between customers, agronomists and technology manufacturers.

Cross industry cooperation

A broad-based organisation such as ours is in a position to encourage interaction and understanding between the issues affecting different agribusinesses, for the benefit of our customers.

Agrii’s R&D Facts

• We manage 50,000 trial plots annually
• Our R&D team is qualified to the highest ORETO standards
• We work with a number of key partners, including ADAS, HGCA, plant breeders, crop protection manufacturers, machinery experts, universities and colleges
• We study a very wide range of crops, including cereals, oilseeds, pulses, fruit, vegetables and potatoes

Examples of research work undertaken

• New chemistry interactions
• Successful second wheats
• Getting barley to perform
• High output oilseed rape agronomy
• Examining the potential of hybrid spring OSR
• Oat agronomy
• Soil biology and nutrition – alternative approaches
• Evaluation of break crops
• Application systems
• Exploring the benefits of precision agronomy
• Future proofing – 91/414 agronomy strategies
• Integrated grassweed management
• Product stewardship

Contract trials capability and projects

In addition to carrying out trials work for our customers and agronomists, Agrii’s R&D team provides a contract trials capability for third party customers.

For more information

Please telephone Throws Farm Agri-intelligence Centre on 01371 856431 or use the ‘Ask us a question’ facility on this website to find out more.

Downloads