You've got the data, so what?

Today we’re recording live from Cereals 2026 at Diddly Squat Farm. Agrii has just unveiled its vision for the Smart Connected Farm - a system designed to help farmers harness data, technology, and expert insight to improve decision-making and drive performance.

In this episode, Rachel Watling National Marketing Manager at Agrii takes you on a tour of the concept, exploring how people, research, seed, nutrition, and digital tools all connect to create a more profitable and resilient farming business.

Stations:

• Agronomy - Kathryn Styan
• R&D - Ruth Mann & Jonathan Trotter
• Seed - John Miles & Rob Stuart 
• Nutrition - Tom Land
• Digital - Ben Foster & Jonny Kerley 

Podcast summary:

• The Smart Connected Farm is a system designed to help farmers improve profitability, and navigate the digital tools available - from sensors to satellite imagery 
• People remain central: agronomists use data and AI to enhance (not replace) expert, on-the-ground decision-making.
• Significant R&D investment (450+ trials annually) enables Agrii to reduce risk and provide proven, field-scale insights to growers.
• A joined-up approach across seed, nutrition, and agronomy allows more precise, early-stage decision-making to improve crop performance.
• Digital platforms like Contour bring complex data together into simple, actionable insights to drive profitability and compliance.

Smart Connected Farming: Turning Data Into Better Farm Decisions

How can farmers make practical use of farm data, digital technology and agronomy expertise to improve profitability?

At Cereals 2026, Agrii unveiled the Smart Connected Farm, bringing together agronomy, research, seed, nutrition and digital technology to demonstrate how information from across the farming system can support better crop production decisions.

The concept is not another platform or standalone technology. Instead, it shows how different sources of information can work together to support decision-making on farm.

In this episode of the Tramlines podcast, Tony Smith speaks with members of the Agrii team to explore how the Smart Connected Farm approach combines data, experience and technology to help growers respond to increasingly complex farming challenges.

Why farming needs a connected approach

Modern farming generates more information than ever before.

Satellite imagery, drone surveys, soil analysis, variable-rate applications, farm management software and crop monitoring systems can all provide valuable insights. The challenge is not collecting information. The challenge is turning it into practical action.

Many businesses already have access to large amounts of data but struggle to use it effectively. The Smart Connected Farm approach focuses on connecting these different information sources and translating them into decisions that support crop performance, resource efficiency and profitability.

Importantly, it recognises that every farm is different. Not every business will need the same technologies, collect the same information or have the same priorities.

The objective is not to adopt every new tool available. It is to identify the information that matters most to an individual business and use it more effectively.

Agronomy remains at the centre

While technology continues to develop, the role of the agronomist remains fundamental.

Digital tools can help collect and process information at a scale that would previously have been impossible. However, interpreting that information within the context of individual fields, farms and seasons still requires experience and judgement.

Agronomists bring together data from multiple sources alongside local knowledge, crop observations and an understanding of farm objectives.

As discussed during the podcast, technologies such as artificial intelligence may increasingly help analyse information and identify patterns. However, successful decision-making still relies on understanding the wider context of a farm business, including its soils, rotations, management systems and commercial priorities.

Technology can strengthen agronomic advice, but it does not replace the value of boots on the ground.

Research and development: reducing risk before products reach farm

A key part of the Smart Connected Farm is the investment Agrii makes in research and development.

Before recommendations reach growers, products and systems are tested through a structured process that moves from controlled environments through to commercial-scale field evaluation.

This includes:

• Glasshouse screening and early-stage product assessment

• Small plot trials with robust statistical analysis

• Tramline and field-scale demonstrations

• Commercial farm validation across multiple regions

Agrii's network of Technology Centres and iFarms allows new approaches to be evaluated under a wide range of soil types, weather patterns and cropping systems.

Each year this programme delivers:

• Around 450 individual trials

• Approximately 55,000 trial plots

• Research sites spanning the UK from Scotland to the South West

This work helps identify where technologies deliver genuine benefits and where they do not, allowing growers to make decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.

Innovation and agricultural technology

Alongside traditional agronomy research, Agrii continues to evaluate emerging agricultural technologies.

The role of the innovation programme is to identify technologies that could provide practical value to growers and assess them under real farming conditions.

This includes technologies such as:

• Crop-scanning sensors

• Drone-based crop assessment

• Disease detection systems

• Artificial intelligence tools

• Robotics and automation

• Advanced monitoring technologies

Not every innovation will prove valuable at farm level. The purpose of the evaluation process is to identify those technologies capable of delivering measurable benefits and integrate them into practical farming systems.

As more data becomes available, the ability to combine information from multiple sources becomes increasingly important.

Better decisions start with better variety selection

Seed remains one of the most influential decisions made during the season.

Variety choice influences disease risk, nutrition requirements, drilling strategy, crop protection planning and ultimately farm performance.

The Smart Connected Farm combines information from:

• National variety trials

• Agronomy observations

• Disease monitoring

• Drone assessments

• Regional performance data

• Commercial farm experience

This connected approach helps growers select varieties that are suited to their own conditions and management objectives.

Rather than relying on a single data source, recommendations are built using information collected across multiple environments and seasons.

Connecting nutrition to crop performance

Nutrition is another area where connected data can support more informed decision-making.

Seasonal weather variability, changing fertiliser economics and increasing focus on nutrient use efficiency mean growers are under pressure to maximise returns from every application.

By combining information such as:

• Soil nutrient status

• Biomass measurements

• Variable-rate mapping

• Crop development assessments

• Historical performance data

growers can make more targeted nutrition decisions throughout the season.

This allows investment to be directed where it is most likely to deliver a return while helping improve nutrient use efficiency and overall crop performance.

The approach also supports technologies designed to improve nutrient availability and utilisation, helping growers make better use of both applied and existing nutrient resources.

The role of digital farming and farm data

At the heart of the Smart Connected Farm is the ability to collect, store and interpret information from across the farming system.

Digital infrastructure provides the foundation that allows data from different sources to work together.

Agrii's Contour platform plays a central role by bringing together information from:

• Satellite imagery

• Soil data

• Crop monitoring

• Variable-rate applications

• Farm management records

• Environmental schemes

• Compliance documentation

The objective is not simply to accumulate information. It is to convert data into practical insights that support farm management decisions.

Growers do not need more dashboards or more reports. They need information presented in a way that helps them make decisions quickly and confidently.

Digital farming and profitability

The discussion at Cereals repeatedly returned to a single theme: profitability.

With pressure on margins, rising costs and increasing regulatory requirements, farm businesses need tools that help direct investment where it delivers the greatest value.

Digital farming can support this by helping growers:

• Identify underperforming areas of fields

• Match inputs to realistic yield potential

• Improve nutrient use efficiency

• Support compliance requirements

• Record evidence more effectively

• Improve operational efficiency

For some businesses, the biggest gain may come from variable-rate applications. For others, it may come from compliance management or environmental planning.

The key is ensuring information is available when needed and presented in a way that supports decision-making.

A practical route into smart farming

Perhaps the most important message from the Smart Connected Farm is that digital adoption does not have to be all or nothing.

Every farm is on a different journey.

Some businesses may start with satellite imagery and digital record keeping. Others may already be using variable-rate technology, sensors and integrated farm management platforms.

The Smart Connected Farm demonstrates how each of these elements can contribute to a connected system, helping growers build a level of technology adoption that suits their own business.

The focus remains firmly on practical outcomes.

Better decisions. Better resource use. Better crop performance. Better profitability.