Automated Selective Broccoli Harvesting to increase grower productivity and resillience towards net zero

西兰花是英国最受欢迎的蔬菜之一，即使在今天，季节性工人也会收割西兰花，他们会在作物中挑选并切下成熟的西兰花头。种植者一直面临着长期的劳动力短缺和不断上升的成本。2021年，由于英国季节性劳动力短缺，数百万英镑的西兰花作物没有收获。到2022年，花椰菜和芸苔种植者已经减少了种植面积，因此将进口更多的花椰菜来满足需求，这推高了成本，增加了食品里程的二氧化碳排放。世界各地的农民都在寻找一种自动收割的解决方案。该项目将在2022年对世界领先的西兰花收获机进行概念验证，并在2023年进行预生产原型。新的自动化方法将收获整株植物，开辟了从以前被视为作物废料的食物中创造有价值和营养的植物性食物的潜力。

Broccoli one of the UK's favourite vegetables is even today harvested by seasonal workers who walk in the crop to select and cut only the ripe broccoli heads.Growers have been facing chronic labour shortages and increasing costs.In 2021 £' millions of broccoli crops were left unharvested due to a shortage of seasonal labour UK.For 2022 broccoli and brassica growers have cut back their plantings so more broccoli will be imported to meet needs -- driving up costs and increasing food mile CO2 emissions.Farmers across the world are searching for an automated harvesting solution. This project will take a world-leading proof of concept broccoli harvesting machine to infield testing in 2022 and a pre-production prototype in 2023\.The new automated approach will harvest the whole plant, opening up the potential to create valuable and nutritious plant-based foods from what was previously seen as crop waste.