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SLIMERS

Controlling slugs with AI and automation

UK agri-tech specialists Farmscan Ag and Fotenix have become partners in a major project to develop autonomous monitoring and control of arable farming’s biggest pest. 

Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience Against Slugs (SLIMERS) is a three-year £2.6m Defra-funded research programme involving more than 100 UK farms and seven partner organisations. Led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), the project was launched in 2023 to understand slug behaviour and develop two commercial offerings.

These will help farmers by locate slugs in fields and provide precise and autonomous control with biocontrol agents containing nematodes. This will decrease reliance on chemical control of slugs, which are responsible for some £43m of damage to crops across the UK when adequate control is not in place.

Fotenix and Farmscan Ag are working directly with UK Agri-Tech Centre to develop the autonomous monitoring and control element of SLIMERS, led by project technical lead Dr Jenna Ross OBE, who developed it within the SlugBot project, previously funded by Innovate UK.

Dr Jenna Ross OBE
Callum Chalmers, Farmscan Ag
Charles Keys, Fotenix

Dr Ross said: “We are delighted to welcome Fotenix and Farmscan AG to the SLIMERS consortium. Their combined technologies, knowledge and experience will be fundamental in developing the autonomous slug monitoring and control system, thus bringing more sustainable, cost-effective slug control to the industry.”

Charles Veys, co-founder and director of Fotenix said: “SLIMERS is an ambitious project, but for me the most exciting element is deploying new and cutting-edge detection onto traditional farm equipment. It will be challenging but we are looking forward to bringing our expertise and working with Farmscan Ag and the wider team to make it happen.”

Callum Chalmers, director of Farmscan Ag added: “We’re really excited about bringing a targeted and precise approach to dealing with slugs that is also autonomous. It needs to be commercially viable and farmer ready which is easy to say, but harder to make it a reality. Working with BOFIN and its farmer members is going to be really important.”

Tom Allen-Stevens, Oxfordshire farmer and founder of BOFIN said: “Finding a smart way to control slugs is vital given the huge pressures farmers are under to produce food crops as sustainably as possible. It’s great to have Fotenix and Farmscan Ag on board as partners and we are excited to work with them to bring their innovations from the drawing board into farmers’ fields.”

The work will also help support research led by Prof Keith Walters at Harper Adams University, which has identified patterns of slug behaviour including their propensity to gather in patches, and the use of soil data to locate these patches.

For more information about SLIMERS click here

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