Robots and drones sow a better M&S parsnip

The parsnips on your Christmas dinner plate could come with a futuristic twist this year as Marks & Spencer has started using drones and robot tractors to produce the root vegetable.
The group claims to be the first retailer in the UK to trial an “autonomous field” farming technique in an effort to reduce its carbon emissions and improve crop quality and quantity.
In partnership with Huntapac, its long-term root vegetable supplier, M&S planted its first batch of parsnips at a farm in Yorkshire in March, using two robots for bed forming, planting and weeding and two different types of drone to monitor and maintain crop health.
The first batch of autonomously farmed parsnips will be available to shoppers in a number of M&S stores from November, in time for Christmas.
The trial was the first M&S Food project to be funded by its “Plan A” accelerator fund, which the retailer launched this year to find innovative projects to help it to achieve its target of becoming net zero across its entire supply chain by 2040.
The sustainability plan was launched in 2007, covering environmental issues, ethical trade, animal welfare and healthier foods.
Businesses are under regulatory, investor and consumer pressure to meet net-zero targets. Research published in September by Wincanton revealed that two thirds of UK companies felt under pressure to hit their net-zero targets. Many firms are struggling to move out of the target-setting phase to deliver on their commitments.
Andrew Clappen, technical director at M&S Food, said: “Agriculture is one of our biggest contributors to emissions, so it’s important that we find new lower impact farming methods.
“Trialling new ways to support our Plan A road map to net zero is an important step on the journey and this project has helped deliver more parsnips at M&S quality, a carbon reduction, and brings together new technologies which if adopted more widely would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector.”
M&S said other benefits of its autonomous farming trial included improved quality and quantity of crop yields. One of the drones uses artificial intelligence to monitor and improve crop health, while other autonomous technology can be used to reduce weather impact.
The retail stalwart said that in March this year, after the wettest six months in England since 1871, its team was able to get in and plant the field with the autonomous robot, which it claimed would not have been possible with a traditional tractor.
This, it said, had contributed to an increase in quality and number of parsnips and reduced waste, with a 16 per cent higher yield of grade one vegetables compared with Huntapac’s other parsnip fields.
The trial is being held at Huntapac’s parsnip field in Yorkshire but the supplier said it was “aiming to deliver multiple fields farmed this way for next season”. It supplies M&S with parsnips and carrots.