Sencrop, the European agri-tech company specialising in weather monitoring and crop disease forecasting, is opening its first UK facility at NIAB’s Barn4 AgriTech Incubator in Cambridge.
Having previously worked with organisations like the British Beet Research Organisation, Sencrop recently partnered with Frontier Agriculture to launch a UK-wide network of over 480 connected weather stations, helping agronomists and farmers to make more informed crop management decisions.
Sales account executive at Sencrop, Mark Herriman, said that the move provides great opportunities for collaboration: “It is a very positive step. NIAB has a long history of scientific research and Sencrop can help with bringing some of that research to farmers.”
He explained that the company hopes to grow its network of weather stations by working closely with NIAB through Barn4: “We will have direct access to station information and will be able to feed local data to NIAB agronomists to aid their on-farm decision-making.”
Sencrop co-founder and general manager Martin Ducroquet said: “There are many opportunities to bring together the ag-weather data Sencrop gathers with NIAB’s UK farming know-how to create and improve agronomic indicators for arable crops like wheat, barley and oilseeds. This will allow growers to reduce their crop risks and agronomists to bring them a more personalised service.”
Sencrop are also looking to make the most of the growing UK viticulture sector. Mr Herriman said: “The UK vineyard market is very exciting now. There are 900 vineyards, 500 of which operate on a commercial basis. Taking East Anglia, there are vineyards in Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire. It is partly climate change that is leading farmers to grow vines, but they are also taking advantage of soil types similar to those in the French wine regions. We will be developing new disease modelling with NIAB.
“Having a UK base will bring lots of opportunities, and being able to collaborate with NIAB means there will be many exciting projects on the horizon.”
