Last week’s Energy in Agriculture event in Tipperary brought together the renewable energy industry and farmers to explore opportunities on farms.

However for some, the event is also an opportunity to showcase products and services which may be of value to the farming community.

Limerick-based Anuland took this opportunity to debut their its new product, FieldSense, ahead of its official launch at this year’s National Ploughing Championship.

The FieldSense sensor automatically measures grass growth and volume to help farmers achieve improved accuracy on forecasted grass yield, which can be matched to their feed demand.

Anuland is a start-up which specialises in precision farming solutions and aims to help farmers gain more control over their farming practices. The company has been developing the FieldSense product over the past two years.

How it works

The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to company director David McDonnell who explained how the technology worked.

The FieldSense unit is installed in a headland in a reference field and additional sensors are installed above and below ground.

These sensors record a number of climatic factors, including temperatures, and the camera continually takes photos of the grass. This data is sent to the cloud where algorithms interpret this information and deliver insights and recommendations to an app on the farmer’s phone. The unit is powered by a solar PV panel, with a backup battery and also contains a GSM wireless receiver.

Listen to the full interview below:

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