Agricultural Magazine Winter 2013

Clouds are looming, but brighter ones this time...The Internet is changing the way we run our everyday lives, but what part

does it play in the world of farming?

Smart TechnologyGet smart with WebTrack Mobile,

a new App from Patchwork Technology.

Remote SensingPioneering agronomy tools on the move.

The latest innovations in Precision Farming.

Professor David HughesThe global trends that will impact the

Agribusiness and food industry. Part 2 of 3.

Dear Readers

As we welcome you to our first Ag-mag of 2013, it’s a good time to reflect on 2012, a year that many of us in the agricultural industry will be keen to see the back of. Poor weather and rocketing costs have meant that less than a quarter of farmers are confident about the year ahead. That’s according to a recent study commissioned by the NFU, which found that 42% of farmers believed their businesses were in for a tougher year.

Phil Bicknell, NFU Chief Economist, said that it’s important to remember the great farming success stories; “The challenging year we’ve had makes it easy to forget that farming has been something of a success story in recent years, increasing its contribution to the economy, creating jobs, and seeing improvements in farm profitability.” And he’s right – it’s been an exciting year for farming as cloud-based computing becomes more accessible in the field and the latest developments in technology enable farmers to work more efficiently and often at lower cost. In my article on pages 5 & 6 I discuss the emerging technologies in our industry and the next generation in crop management systems.

But it’s not just investment in crop recording on the ground that’s set to be big during 2013 - there’s now remote sensing from the sky! Precision Farming, which first came to the UK in the 1990’s, is becoming the cornerstone of sus-tainable agriculture. Lewis McKerrow, Head of Precision Services at Agrovista, discusses some of the innovative new developments in this field and explains how precision farming is fundamental in ensuring the continued supply of food required to feed our growing population. With thanks to both Lewis and Chris Harry-Thomas, Precision Farming and Arable Systems Consultant, for their contributions.

The challenges the industry will continue to face are also explored in our latest article from Professor David Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Market-ing, where he takes a look at the agribusiness and food industry trends for 2013 and beyond, in part 2 of his 3-part report.

In his article David discusses the rising GM share of agricultural production and the launch of product quality traits, the increasing market share of store brand/private label and the continued pressure on the food service sector.

I hope this issue stimulates some thought and I wish you all a successful 2013.

Join in the conversation on Twitter @MuddyBootsLtd.

Best wishes

Jeffj.goulding@muddyboots.com

Jeff GouldingFarm Services DirectorMuddy Boots Software

Welcome

Project Ursula

Page 3: What’s new? Read our latest CropWalker Mapping update and meet our Farm Services Trainer.

Page 5, 6: The Internet is changing the way we run our everyday lives, but what part does it play in the world of farming?

Page 4: Read the Word on the Tweet and Dates for

your diary.

Page 6: Patchwork Technology get smart with WebTrack Mobile.

Page 9, 10: Professor David Hughes discusses the agribusiness and food

industry trends.

Page 7, 8: Pioneering agronomy tools on the move. We take a look at the latest innovations in precision farming.

Contents

Name: Rebecca Bradley

Job Title Farm Services Trainer

What's your background? From an agricultural up-bringing, I then studied International Business and French at Bath University. I graduated this year and am now back where I grew up in Herefordshire.

Explain your job: As Farm Services Trainer, my main role is to support our customers through training and developing user material for our agricultural products. I’m also involved with everyday use of our farm services programs, as a primary contact for general enquiries.

What do you enjoy most about your job? Belonging to a team full of enthusiasm for what they do. Working for a company and with colleagues who

are always looking for opportunities to improve. The variety of the role and working within the Food and Farming sector really interest me.

What has been your biggest achievement so far? To have discovered Muddy Boots and find a job with them that I love straight after graduating has been a major achievement over the last year.

If you could be anything in the world, what would you be? Having just seen the latest James Bond film, this reminded me of where I’d love to work! I think it would be great and really exciting to work in Intelligence!

Meet The Team Member...

Technology has the ability to change so much of what we do within our farming industry. It has the power to make things easier, more efficient and significantly impact our productivity. What excites some (and troubles others!) is the pace of change, and this edition of the Ag-Mag really highlights that this is ever quickening.

Muddy Boots’ job is to ‘simplify’ some of this new technology and harness its potential for our customers. And so after some months of development, we are delighted to showcase our first Greenlight iPad App. Making full use of Apple’s intuitive design this exciting new App has the potential to completely change the way our users work in the field. For more information on Greenlight please take a look at page 5.

The real challenge is adopting it, so with this in mind we welcome our new Farm Services Trainer, Rebecca Bradley. Becca has already made a notable impact by organising a new series of training webinars. With simple, free registration (to licensed users) these interactive group sessions are conducted via the internet offering attendees step-by-step guidance in using the software and are a great opportunity to ask questions directly to a Muddy Boots Trainer by using a chat box (so there’s no fear that you’ll be asking a ‘silly’ question!). For more information please e-mail Becca on technicalservices@muddyboots.com.

Finally, our recent work to integrate Patchwork’s online mapping tool to create CropWalker Mapping is now up and running. This powerful new CropWalker module allows farmers, agronomists and contractors to easily view and share valuable mapping data through an intuitive online tool. Available FREE to trial for 30 days to all CropWalker users, please contact the Muddy Boots sales office to ‘turn it on and have a go’!

What’s New?

CropWalker Mapping

04.

Word on the weet!

Fast Facts

@MuddyBootsLtd

Harvest2050 Empowering farmers with mobile phones gives them access to crop prices, weather conditions, and general #farming tips

Unilever_News Polman: we need to produce the same amount of food in the next 40 years as we did in the past 8,000 @FT

NFUtweets RT @NFUsInBrussels Consensus from EU decision makers is that bTB vaccine will not solve TB in the foreseeable future #tbfree

Dates for your DiaryTo Meet Muddy Boots

LAMMA Event16 - 17 January 2013Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground, UK

Precision Farming6th March 2013East of England Showground, Peterborough, UK

Cereals Event12 – 13 June 2013

Boothby Graffoe, Lincoln, UK

PMA Fresh Connections Eveny11 – 13 June 2013Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre,

New South Wales, Australia

It’s amazing what you can say in 140 characters!

Total carbon stored in UK soils and forests is equivalent to over 37 billion tonnes of CO2 - more than 50 times the UK’s annual emissions (Source: DECC)

Energy consumption by UK farmers has fallen 22% over the last 10 years (Source: Defra)

Food industry accounts for about 10% of all industrial use of the public water supply (Source: Defra)Food prices rose 32% in the UK

between 2007 and 2012 while rising only 13% in France and Germany.

Fresh thinking

Clouds are looming,but brighter ones this time...The Internet is changing the way we run our everyday lives, but what part does it play in the world of farming? Jeff Goulding discusses Greenlight Grower Management, the next generation in crop management systems.

Greenlight

As I write I’ve just finished, with a good week to spare, my Christmas shopping. No running around busy shopping malls though. It’s all been done online; God bless you Amazon One-Click. The internet is changing the way we run our lives, from booking doctor’s appointments to our family holiday; checking our banking activity to the latest weather forecast. And now managing our field and crop records.

Internet based systems come with a long list of benefits; accessible anywhere, live info, data backed-up safely, secure sharing of information. You could ask why install a PC-based program and stress about system updates and back-ups when a cloud-based system provides a worry-free, easy to use solution often at lower cost?

With the increasing need to access and input crop data from any location, Greenlight Grower Management embraces the latest cloud technology, delivering instant information at the point required, ensuring whoever undertakes the task – and wherever they are based – cropping routines are completed quickly and efficiently, avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort and speeding up operational processes.

Collaboration is key to this next generation of crop management systems. No longer are the various

stakeholders (advisors, farmers, contractors) working independently of one another. With everyone ‘on the cloud’, data is live and instantly available, with email messages alerting those who need to know of any updates such as new plans or crop actions.

Greenlight provides the next generation in crop management systems, and helps us embrace the

benefits internet-based solutions can deliver. But let’s not forget that a lot of crop recording activity takes place outside of the office…

An Apple a day…With a background in agronomy I understand well the need for better access to data in the field. I still remember the excitement of being issuedwith my first laptop and portable printer to

support the ongoing effort of equipping agronomists with in-field technology and help us complete our roles more efficiently. That excitement was short-lived when it all proved too cumbersome and the laptop was soon left at home. Fresh hope came in the form of Window CE devices a few years later to run Pocket CropWalker, but small screens and fiddly functionality curtailed their usefulness beyond accessing previous crop info. As a software house we were living with hardware that promised so much but never delivered quite as we’d hoped.

GreenlightPlatform

Contractor

Farmer

Food Processor & Retailer

Technical Manager

Agronomist

Greenlight Web

06.

Emerging Technology

Get Smart with WebTrack Mobile

During the last edition of the Muddy Boots Ag-Mag, we told you about the integration of our CropWalker software with WebTrack3 from Patchwork,to form CropWalker Mapping; an unrivalledsolution which integrates farm, field andcrop data with a web-based mappingtool.

Following the successful launch of theWebTrack3 online field visualisation system, Patchwork has developed

WebTrack Mobile – which enables the seamless sharing of farm data between office, field and advisors.

Free to all WebTrack3 customers, the application works on any brand of smart phone or tablet and synchronises with the user’s WebTrack3 account to share real time information. The system also provides a truly low cost starting point for field mapping.

There are several further benefits. Firstly, once downloaded it functions even without mobile phone signal – allowing operation even in remote areas. It allows the user to walk directly to a specific point they have identified on a map in the office.

Alternatively, it allows the farmer to map out areas or mark an exact point when out on foot – be it an area of limited growth, exceptional growth, weed or slug damage. This can then be assessed when back in the office or shared directly with an advisor.

Patchwork Commercial Director, Sue Davies said: “WebTrack3 has revolutionised the use of data in farming by making it more compatible and accessible for farmers, contractors and agronomists – providing accurate and easy to use information with which users can make informed business decisions.

“The new WebTrack Mobile App takes it one stage further by making the link between field and office even more seamless. With just a mobile phone, users can save time and improve accuracy when investigating unexpected results.”

Enter Apple. Simple, easy to use, intuitive design that works so brilliantly it seems anyone can use it. The iPhone and now the iPad have set the benchmark for all other devices to meet, and so Muddy Boots has grasped the nettle and developed our first iPad App.

A few taps of the finger, a couple of swipes and a multi-field and product agchem plan is created, simple and quick. But the taking of images to support an inspection and auto-embedding into a report starts to bring these devises alive. A picture tells a thousand words, and a couple of field pictures uploaded with an agchem plan, with an e-mail link sent to the farmer, keeps everyone up to speed with the changing crop conditions and impending issues.

The era of mobile computing is truly coming of age, and the increasing use of the internet, smart phones and tablet PC’s will undoubtedly impact how the simple but important task of crop management is undertaken. You could argue that it even starts to be fun!

For more information on Greenlight Grower Management, please contact Jeff Goulding or Julian Knight on +44 (0)1989 780540 or e-mail sales@muddyboots.com.

Greenlight App

Precision Farming, which first came into the UK in the early 1990’s, is becoming the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture and is fundamental in ensuring the continued supply of food required to feed our growing population.

Precision Farming was brought to this country from the US in the 1990’s, with the support of some forward-thinking industry experts who identified that harnessing technology on the farm could increase yield, whilst also increasing margin. Since that time significant developments have been made in bringing precision farming to the forefront of agricultural processes.

Traditionally there has always been a fear amongst farmers and operators who didn’t really understand precision farming or the benefit it could bring to their business, but one industry source tells us that these fears are gradually being diminished; “After more than two decades, the reality of precision farming is in-line with our ideas. It’s no longer just about the farmers that want to make a difference to the world, but also the mainstream farmers who need to make a difference to their bottom line.

“For the first time in over 20 years everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet; politicians, voters, environmental lobbyists and farmers are all seeing and, crucially,validating, the benefits of precision

farming. When used correctly, this technology can increase the efficiency of farm operations whilst combating the ecological, economic and social problems that we are facing. In the long run, it just makes good financial and business sense!”

One key development is around remote crop sensing. Lewis McKerrow, Head of Precision Services at Agrovista, discusses some of the innovative new developments in this field; “Although crop sensors have been available for nearly 10 years, recent R&D work along with trials data has developed these early tools into more reliable systems. A number of new sensors are now coming onto the market along with new concepts that aim to move the goalposts. This will ensure that growers have a wide choice of crop sensing equipment to fit their particular situation, and with the technology becoming more widely available this should bring more value for money for the end user.

“Crop sensing technology is most often talked about in relation to nitrogen applications, but can also be used to variably apply growth regulators and produce canopy maps every time they pass through the crop, capturing valuable agronomic information.

“The Yara N-Sensor is probably the best known crop sensor in the UK and also the most firmly established. There are two types of

sensor offered by Yara; the original and the ALS, the costlier Active Light Source type means that the sensor can operate in a wider range of conditions including the dark. The N-Sensor is generally cab mounted and measures light reflectance from the crop from four different angles covering a total area of approximately 50m2. Measurements are taken every second with the system designed to operate at normal working speeds and all bout widths. A fifth sensor positioned skywards measures the intensity of light allowing the sensor system to compensate for different light conditions whilst operating. Each year Yara build on an extensive set of trials data to help calibrate the sensor to the various crops it works on, to help support their claim that it delivers the best performance to the end user.

“Agleader OptRx sensors have also been around for a good number of years, originally developed in the United States and also having extensive trials data back-up. This sensor differs from the Yara in that it’s designed to look straight down into the crop and can be mounted in several places, from the front linkage to the booms of a sprayer. Another difference is that extra sensors can be added for improved accuracy; the minimum number is two but up to six can be fitted. The OptRx sensors have their own light source built-in measuring the NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetative Index) of the crop to prescribe a

Pioneering Agronomy Tools on the Move

Project Ursula

08.

rate or produce a biomass map. A similar sensor, Greenseeker, is available from Trimble which also measures the NDVI of the crop to work out the prescription rate.

“The newest sensor to the market is the Fritzmeier Isaria. This sensor has been developed and available in Germany for the past few years and has now launched into the UK market. The system uses modern technology to ensure ease of use, connecting the sensor to the control box in the cab via Bluetooth, cutting down on annoying cables, and folding up and down with electric motors via the wireless control box. The sensor is very similar to the Agleader sensor in that it looks straight down into the crop.

“A feature that Fritzmeier is keen to promote is the ability to add other layers of data into the sensor. Typically these will be yield potential maps to give the sensor another factor to consider rather than just what it senses on the ground. Fritzmeier state that the sensor does work an ‘absolute’ mode in wheat, essentially allowing the Isaria to set a variable rate for crop and

field variations and the sensor fully deciding on the application rate. The only other sensor to offer an ‘absolute’ mode on a crop is the Yara N-Sensor which offers this function for OSR only.

“Moving away from ground based sensors, the other technologies now available are based in the sky. The first of these is the SOYLsense system which uses satellite data to look at crops. Software then analyses biomass and variable rates can be made based on this data. This type of system is the lowest cost option, with a pay-as-you-go price structure. However, the data is not live and is only as good as the last satellite image that was taken on a clear day. The system also needs someone to go and ‘ground-truth’ the data, essentially seeing how thick and green the good bits compare to the poorer bits. Another concession of this system is that the satellites are a good number of miles above the crop, whereas crop sensors are just a few meters above the crop and sensing live.

“A new concept is now being developed to utilise Unmanned

Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), with one of the best known systems being Project Ursula. These small unmanned ‘drones’ are fitted with high resolution digital cameras that capture images as they fly over the fields, producing very high quality images that give a far higher resolution than satellites. However, the images have to be ‘merged’ together into a full map and stretched and manipulated to fit into the correct shape of the field. The images can be captured in various light wavelengths, however, more work is being done on the interpretation of this data, and although the images look very impressive the hard work is producing software that can turn these into useful applications.”

Precision farming is no longer an option but an essential ingredient and key in its success is the total integration of chaotic software and hardware to enable one collaborative platform; offering complete traceability of all farming processes. We’re all finally singing from the same hymn sheet…but now we need to work from it!

Remote Sensing

Fritzmeier Isaria - also pictured on front

Here’s a brisk run through some trends in global agribusiness and the food industry. Briefly, I’ll pick up some of the implications of these for companies and consumers.

environmental impact and use of renewable inputs, bioplastics for packaging and general manufacture will contribute to placing greater pressure on land prices. Remember, as Mark Twain famously said “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore”.

Agribusiness & Food Industry TrendsPart 2 of 3

In 2011, GM crop use totalled 160 million hectares globally and were grown in 29 countries with US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada and China leading the charge.

Europe still steadfastly says no to GM. Butafter 16 years of global commercialisation and no horror stories some naysayers are softening their stance – gene transfer between close plant relatives may be more acceptable, and GM for fuel and fibre crops may well be embraced. It’s thebig broad acre crops that gain the most commercial attention and for good reason – volume of business.

Like specialised herbicides for minor horticultural crops, gaining approval for GM vegetables with specific health benefits is just going to be too expensive for the foreseeable future to make the R&D and approval investment worthwhile.

Rising GM share of agricultural production and the launch of product quality traits.

Corn and sugar both come to mind here as they are multi-usage commodities where their use as “green” fuel has had a clear impact on overall commodity prices and seemingly linked inextricably oil and food commodity markets. As companies make more unequivocal and quantifiable promises on their

Competition hotting up for agricultural land: biofuels/bioplastics nudging into land markets previously the bailiwick of food and fibre products.

Deep Winter fruits and vegetables for theNovember to February period in European retail markets, in history, have been shipped from Brazil, Mexico, and the USA amongst others. An emerging trend is that exporters are taking their Latin American production models and applying them to locations in West Africa to take advantage of lower labour and land costs and quicker shipping times to major European ports. This is driven by major retailers looking for ever more competitive prices on out-of-season fresh foods.

West Africa emerging as a serious competitor to Latin America for perishab-le produce destined for European fresh food markets in the Winter season.

Through the 1980’s to 2010, there was adiscernible reduction in public sector funding for agricultural R&D. Private sector firms expanded their R&D initiatives to gain proprietary ownership of key attributes in seeds. The high and volatile food commodity price period from 2006 to the present have caused governments to re-think and, via World Bank and bilateral agencies, R&D agricultural investment directed at developing countries has bottomed out and started to increase.

Concerns about food security particularly in emerging countries reversing declines in public sector investment in productivity-enhancing R&D.

Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (CSR) are activities that can be undertak-en when times are good and resources are available. Led by Unilever and Nestlé, the notion of CSR is being replaced by CSV – Creating Shared Value. Underpinn-ing this shift is the view that firms must create value for society if they are to create long-term value for their own shareholders and if they are to be given “the licence” to operate by society.

CSR evolving into CSV.

Corporates are making more specific promises about their products, processes and treatment of their supply chain partners. For the big fmcg companies, the largest part of their value is wrapped upwith the value of their brands. The integrity of these brands must be protected at all times. Yet, these products are made up of ingredients produced around the world by often hundreds of suppliers. The brand owner requires these suppliers to carry the brand integrity torch on behalf of its brand. The more promises a company makes on its web site, the more difficult it is to switch ingredient suppliers for, say, simply a lower price.

Closer and longer-term relationships in the supply chain to protect brand value.

Global manufacturers are continuing to focus on product categories in which they can dominate and concentrate on global “power brands” through which they can gain maximum leverage in production scale and negotiating leverage with retailers (e.g. Nestlé with

Consolidation in global supply chains and polarisation in manufacturing – global “power brands” at one end and artisanal/story products at the other.

Professor David Hughes

10.

Professor David Hughes,Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing

profdavidhughes@aol.com+44 (0) 7798558276

http://www.profdavidhughes.com/

Fairtrade and the like requirements. Nescafé, Unilever with Magnum ice cream). It’s for good reason – net profitability for these power brands is substantially higher than for those products on a long tail. Nestlé’s been on a shopping spree providing an example of a major player substantially consolidating its position in the infant nutrition business through its purchase of Pfizer Infant Nutrition which has particular strengths in emerging markets. Kraft taking Cadbury in confectionery is another. Nothing new in this trend, of course, Monsanto and Syngenta have been blithely buying small and large genetics companies and dominating the seed industry for years.

Food is intrinsically less profitable than non-food products and global fmcg must continually appraise their portfolios for future strategic direction – P&G, long a player in food products, has essentially exited the food industry and is left only with its upmarket pet foods.

“family eats for £20” – a slippery slope in terms of squeezing margins! But reliance on “retail-type” promotions seem essential in difficult times as grocery retailers target eating away from home consumers with attractive offers such as “Dine in for £10” which has proved popular in the UK.

Private label share is in growth across the globe and has accelerated through current tough economic times. What’s more, the three tiered “Good (cheap), Better (regular), Best (premium) model of private label has spread globally as retailers learn more about brand management. Tesco in the UK has gone a step further and launched “Venture Brands” which are products exclusive to Tesco but not bearing its name. These products are designed to compete directly with major fmcg brands that in the past have not been targeted by private label. Branding is in the DNA of these majors and it is still new territory for most retailers.

Rising market share of store brand/private label.

Financially-constrained consumers have reduced expenditure on eating out. However, not all companies have suffered: McDonald’s have had a barn-storming 4 year period and not only in emerging markets, but McD’s has done superbly well in slow/no growth Europe, with its recession-busting “Value” product.

What is clear is that the core eating out consumer now regularly checks on-line to see what deals are available as chains mimic retail offers such as “BOGOF”’s,

Continued pressure on the food service sector.

In Europe and North America, shoppers are electing to undertake the “Big Shop” in a hypermarket less often and use convenience top-up shopping more frequently. This is a very helpful trend for those in the fresh food business – short shelf life products suffer when shoppers buy in bulk and shop less often. This is good news for, say, fresh berry suppliers or chilled ready meal manufacturers. You can see the threat to food service here. Why order a relatively expensive Indian takeaway when you can pop into a Tesco Express store just around the corner from your house and pick up an “Indian meal for 2” for £6 ($10)?!

5% of Tesco’s UK grocery sales are now ordered on-line, although the most popular method for delivery is for the shopper to pick up the bags at the store when passing. In dense urban areas, I seeon-line shopping with some combination of delivery and self pick-up booming over the next decade. How does that suit your product? A combination of low cost warehouses (not high cost supermarkets), robotics, night time deliveries and click & pick, pure shopper convenience will drive on-line grocery shopping to double digit market share figures in the UK and other markets by decade end.

Changing retail format mix for grocery in developed countries.

Like CaféDirect in history, Rainforest Allia-nce and Fairtrade have done their job and, increasingly, will be sidelined but respected for their contribution to stimul-ating change in treatment of small-scale producers and raising environmental awareness. Their role will be in providing independent third party accreditation to claims made by major fmcg companies who recognise that looking after their ingredient providers is in the best long-term interests of their companies. In coffee, tea, chocolate and, by 2020, palm oil, major players and particularly those with valuable brands will have transform-ed their relationships with supply chain partners and will have moved beyond

Fairtrade and other “Green” social labels.

Clearly, organics have a secure long-termfuture. The issue is really “but what will betheir market share?” – 3% or 30%? Likely, the former but it depends on the product category in question. Smart organic companies are switching tack from the sometimes “holier than thou” approach to one that fastens their products firmly on “natural” ingredients and products that taste great – organic becomes almost a secondary attribute.

Organic product sales

At last, Bright Foods of China hasmanaged to acquire a Western food company with a substantial brand – Weetabix– to tuck into its portfolio with its New Zealand Synlait dairy joint venture and its Australian Manassen food distribution firm. In 2011, Thai Union Group hooked (pardon the pun) the branded seafood company John West.

There will be a lot more of this type of activity to come; but not only from emerging country companies. With the forecasted decline in the Japanese population, expect to see Japanese companies with a disproportional amount of total sales being domestic to be looking around for opportunities even in slow growth Europe and USA. UCC Holdings of Japan has just purchased United Coffee in Europe – the largest independent coffee business on the continent – on the grounds (again excuse the pun) that Europe’s population is forecasted to at least be static rather than full reverse as it will be at home.

Take a break and don’t worry if you missed part 1 - visit my blog or email: e.stockley@muddyboots.com.

Emerging and Asian companies purchasing “Western” brands.

Muddy Boots Software Ltd t: +44 (0)1989 780540

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