Arboricrop: next generation agriculture using real-time information from trees crops

农业正在经历一场变革性革命，利用新技术和知识提高产量，同时大幅减少对环境的影响，降低生产成本，减少浪费。植物已经进化出许多能力，可以在明显的症状出现之前检测和应对压力，但目前的农艺方法主要依赖于熟练的人类在这些问题出现后检测出来。一种能够挖掘植物早期应激反应机制的工具将为种植者、农艺师或自动化系统提供宝贵的农艺知识来源，以便更早地实施干预措施，从而最大限度地减少产量损失，提高效率。植物电生理学是一种独特的方法来捕捉植物尺度的压力相关信息。它在受控环境农业中已显示出前景，但其在室外农业中的适用性还有待研究。为了使这项技术得到广泛采用，目前的电生理传感器需要适应田间条件，包括：小型化以增加空间灵巧性和作物附着，人体工程学设计以帮助农民接受，射频数据通信和太阳能充电能力独立，以及集成到数字农艺系统中，为种植者提供精确控制和价值。为了开发下一代植物电生理传感器（NGES），我们在英国组建了一个多学科合作团队。该项目将由Benchmark Control公司领导，该公司是一家拥有传感器制造专业知识的电气工程和产品开发公司；阿德里安·斯克里普斯是英国水果的主要种植者和分销商，具有前瞻性的可持续性方法，将为NGES测试提供果园基础设施；哈金森是一家领先的农艺咨询公司，在开发数字农业平台方面处于领先地位，该平台将把NGES的产出整合到用户友好的战略计划中；英国最大的园艺应用研究机构NIAB将进行NGES果园试验并提供项目管理支持。我们的研发方法实现了多轮NGES的设计和改进，与现有传感器的性能比较，果园树木应力检测的对照试验，以及集成到现有的数字农业平台。在成功完成这些任务后，我们的NGES将直接面向苹果、葡萄、坚果和柑橘等高价值多年生作物的种植者销售。在英国，采用NGES将通过避免使用不必要的作物保护剂或营养补充剂来降低成本，并通过最大限度地提高产量潜力来增加利润。最终，我们捕捉植物信息的激进方法将有助于将农业部门转变为我们社会和环境所需的可持续版本。

The agricultural industry is undergoing a transformative revolution, leveraging new technologies and knowledge to increase yields while dramatically reducing environmental impacts, lowering production costs, and reducing waste. Plants have evolved many capabilities to detect and respond to stress long before visible symptoms appear, yet current agronomic methods rely predominantly on skilled humans detecting these issues once they become visible. A tool that can tap into early plant stress response mechanisms will provide an invaluable source of agronomic knowledge informing growers, agronomists, or automated systems to apply interventions earlier, thereby minimising yield losses and maximising efficiency.Plant electrophysiology is a unique approach to capturing plant-scale stress-related information. It has demonstrated promise in controlled environment agriculture, but its applicability to outdoor farming requires investigation. To make this technology widely adoptable, current electrophysiology sensors need adaptation to field conditions, including: miniaturisation to increase spatial finesse and crop attachment, ergonomic design to aid farmer acceptance, radio-frequency data communication and solar charging capacities for independence, and integration into digital agronomy systems to deliver precision control and value for the growers.To develop the next generation of plant electrophysiological sensors (NGES), we have assembled a multidisciplinary and collaborative team in the UK. The project will be led by Benchmark Control, an electrical engineering and product development firm that has expertise in sensor fabrication; Adrian Scripps is a premier grower and distributor of UK fruit with a forward-thinking approach to sustainability that will provide orchard infrastructure for NGES testing; Hutchinsons is a leading agronomic consulting firm at the forefront of developing digital farming platforms that will integrate NGES outputs into a user-friendly strategic plan; and NIAB, the largest UK research institute conducting applied research in horticulture will conduct the NGES orchard experiments and provide project management support.Our research and development approach enables multiple rounds of NGES design and refinement, performance comparison to currently existing sensors, controlled trials of stress detection in orchard trees, and integration into existing digital farming platforms. After successful completion of these tasks, our NGES will be directly marketable to growers of high-value perennial crops, such as apples, grapes, nuts, and citrus. In the UK, adoption of NGES will reduce costs by avoiding the application of unnecessary crop protection agents or nutritional supplements and increase profits by maximising yield potentials. Ultimately, our radical approach to capturing plant-based information will help transform the agricultural sector into the sustainable version our society and environment needs.