Clarkson invents again - or not...

I'm an avid fan of Clarkson's Farm, and enjoy noting how well he represents real experiences of UK farmers, and likely many farmers beyond. Having lived on a farm myself, I have certainly seen many of the issues that he is experiencing. I accept that he throws in a considerable amount of artistic license, but it is a TV show…!

Innovation is a wonderful characteristic of many farmers, as they often have to work with what they've got, “bodging” their way past problems. It is always entertaining to see Clarkson himself showing such characteristics. Last year I briefly reported on his protection ring or rail for the pigloos. This year we have his line markers. 

For the uninitiated, when planting seeds (drilling) in a large field, it can be difficult to see where the last line was drilled when traversing back across the field - the whole field, after all, is brown ground. To help farmers, seed drills can be fitted with a tilling disk on the end of a long arm that can be deployed to engage the ground to the left or right of the drill. That disk can then be used to till a line in the ground to follow on the return pass. However, as Jeremy notes, even a properly generated groove or ridge can vanish within the surrounding brown! His “innovation” was to replace the tilling disk with a paint roller that leaves a white line behind. His mark (i) clearly failed completely, but his mark (ii) seemed somewhat more successful!

Such line markers help ensure consistent row spacing, which is crucial for optimal crop development and management, and helps to avoid bald patches (spaces left between the passes) or over-sowing (where the return pass overlaps the previous pass).

As highlighted in the programme, Jeremy's solution was not actually new, but in any event such techniques are frequently now superseded by more advanced solutions. For example, as highlighted in the show, modern tractors are now commonly fitted with GPS solutions to take much of the guesswork out of this. Furthermore, some tractors even combine this with automated steering, which makes the job far more accurate, albeit perhaps with a steep learning curve given the complexity of the software and the various different interfaces. With an aging UK farmer demographic, would some kind of standardisation be helpful? I suspect so.

All of these technologies are expensive to develop, so it is important to ensure that you protect your IP in them. Our Agritech team is ready to help. We look forward to hearing from you.