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Background

The Hands Free Hectare project was established in order to develop and showcase agricultural automation by completing the world's first fully autonomous cropping cycle. The idea for the project was conceived in 2015 by two staff working in the Engineering Department at Harper Adams University, Kit Franklin and Jonathan Gill, who were frustrated by the pace and limited scope of academic developments in the area of field agricultural automation/robotics which had become stagnant when compared to tech sectors such as UAVs. Jonathan was a utilising opensource technologies (OS Software & OS hardware) to build UAVs and the pair felt they could adapt these systems to work on agricultural vehicles. They also felt it was critical to showcase the machines operating in the field to change the perception of the agricultural industry and being the first to complete a full cropping cycle seemed like a compelling challenge. With publicity in mind the project would need a memorable name, Hands Free Hectare came out of a short discussion between Kit and Jonathan, it was written down on a post it note and stuck on the lab wall where is stayed for nearly a year prior to the project, as is described in episode 75 of the Rock and Roll Farming podcast.

After considering how to get the project off the ground the Kit and Jonathan approached Clive Blacker the director of Precision Decisions , a prominent Precision Agriculture service provider, to propose an Innovate UK collaboration whereby working together they would develop autonomous system and grow a first crop.

Hands Free Hectare 2016-2017

In February 2016 the Hands Free Hectare collaboration of Precision Decisions and Harper Adams University successfully bid for funding in the Satellites to improve Agri-food systems Innovate UK funding call.

Official title: Hands Free Hectare - study into the feasibility of using open source drone technology to automate field agriculture

Abstract: The Hands Free Hectare aims to produce the first crop in the world to be grown completely autonomously - from establishment to harvest, no humans will enter the field. The project will modify existing farm machinery models to utilise control systems developed from open-source data, providing a low-cost route to on-farm machine control.

The project started in October 2016 with the team initially conducting system developments on a small prototype vehicle prior to receiving the ISEKI compact tractor which would be adapted to conduct autonomous farming tasks. During the project the team (Now including Precision Decisions Engineer Martin Abell) worked as a fully integrated "skunk works" to develop the systems needed, progress was reviewed and monitored weekly as to avoid missing strict cropping cycle dates, as discussed at the IAgrE Landwards Conference 2018. As per the name of the project the area to be farmed autonomously was a Hectare land, it was fenced off to ensure safety of visitors to the site which also gave it the feel of an area.

Hands Free Hectare - planned "perfect hectare"

On the 25th of April 2017 the project conducted its first major infield autonomous cropping task by drilling Spring Barley into the hectare. This was followed by autonomous rolling of the drilled crop on the 28th of April to which journalist and media were invited to attend, resulting in considerable coverage.

Autonomous Drilling in the Hands Free Hectare

In September 2017 the project met its goal to complete a fully autonomous cropping cycle when the Spring Barely was harvested. This is recognised as the point at which a World First had been achieved a key milestone for Autonomous Agriculture.

A total of 10 autonomous field operations were conducted in the growing of the HFH spring barley as can be seen at HFH Timelines, critically all the agronomy for the HFH was conducted remotely using information gathered by drones and ground scouting vehicles.

Hands Free Hectare 2017-2018

Following the success and positive reception to the HFH project a follow on year was agreed and funded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). The aim of this second year of the project was to iterate and improve the performance of the autonomous systems as well as looking to improve the techniques used to conduct remote agronomy.

The crop grown in the second year was Winter Wheat, the autonomous tractor was improved to allow for remote start up and control system changes enabled the tractor and combine to run simultaneously unloading on the move. Reporting and videos from harvest can be seen in The Farmers Weekly

Autonomous Unload on the Move in the HFH 2018

Project Recognition and Awards

In 2018 Harper Adams University won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Innovative agricultural engineering in recognition of the universities range of research in this area including HFH

In 2018 the HFH project won the Future Food award at the BBC Food and Farming Awards

In 2018 the HFH project was awarded The IAgrE Team Achievement Award - this was awarded in recognition of successful teamwork and demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration, a special award give at the 80th anniversary IAgrE Awards

In 2018 the HAU & HFH project won the Technological Innovation of the Year at the THE Awards 2018

In 2018 the HAU & HFH project PR headed by Adreen Hart-Rule won Highly Commended for Best Marketing Initiative To Promote Research Excellence at the Heist Awards

In 2018 the HFH project was featured as a Case Study in Defra's paper Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming andthe environment in a Green Brexit

In September 2020 Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Chancellor of Harper Adams University made a special low key visit to the University in order to see autonoous operations on the the Hands Free Farm.