Farmers have been urged to grasp the opportunity to explore game-changing new technologies and innovations at the Royal Norfolk Show.
The event's Innovation Hub will showcase cutting-edge agri-tech and science, with a chance to meet researchers and entrepreneurs - and make connections with people interested in potential collaborations.
Dr Belinda Clarke, director of business network Agri-TechE, said: "Farmer-led development is part of the government’s Farming Innovation Programme.
"Across our ecosystem we have seen that close collaboration between farmers and technologists has been a vital component in the success of companies that have taken a product to market."
The hub is sponsored by the Norwich-based British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO), which will be demonstrating its own latest innovation - hi-tech monitoring stations which are currently in action across East Anglia's sugar beet heartlands.
The collection of reliable scientific data from farm fields is often thwarted by weather conditions, and some crop diseases and pests can become a major problem to growers in a particular season, then not be seen for a number of years.
So BBRO has developed new tools to monitor in-field environments, and the early detection of pests and fungal spores to find out how the two correlate.
Dr Alistair Wright is leading this work, using knowledge gained from travels in America and Canada where diseases such as Cercospora leaf spot are having a major impact.
"One of the most striking features of our monitoring sites is the ‘Spornado’ spore collector, a 3D-printed vacuum system, powered by solar that literally hoovers the air for small particles which are collected on a fine mesh for lab analysis," he said.
"At the moment we are looking for Cercospora spores but as we develop the technology and our capabilities, we will be able to identify many other fungal spores and maybe even pests to provide an invaluable early detection system for sugar beet growers."
The team is also working to define the weather conditions required to cause infection, so Sencrop weather stations have been introduced on each of the 12 sites to determine rainfall, temperature and humidity levels within the air and crop canopy.
"By monitoring spores and changing weather conditions we hope to be able to predict the potential level of disease pressure and therefore take action before disease development," added Dr Wright.
Another Innovation Hub topic will be the opportunity for Fenland and Broadland farmers to diversify with paludiculture – the production of profitable crops on rewetted peat.
Lowland peatlands are some of the most productive soils in the UK, but they can also be a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
When drained, peat soil shrinks and releases thousands of years' worth of captured carbon into the atmosphere, but when wet it absorbs and stores carbon dioxide.
And it can also support commercial crops including reeds for thatching and other fibrous plants which can be used to make a range of sustainable construction materials.
Andrea Kelly is the environment policy adviser for the Broads Authority, which will be discussing paludiculture possibilities at the show.
"The Lowland Agricultural Peatland Task Force report, to be launched soon, sets out to unlock opportunities for all those farming on lowland peat to do so in a more sustainable way," she said.
She said a trial in Lancashire is growing a commercial celery crop on re-wetted peat, reducing emissions by an estimated three tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare for every 10cm increase in the water table
She added: "The Horsey Estate in Norfolk, as a contrast, is growing wetland crops on marginal land and aiming to use these for filtering and cleaning water as well as for construction materials.
"The science suggests that even a small change in water level management can significantly slow the loss-rate of peat soil, and so, in some landscapes, we want to make it possible to raise water levels above where they are penned currently to farm in a more climate-resilient way."
- The Royal Norfolk Show takes place at the Norfolk Showground on June 28 and 29. For more information and tickets see www.royalnorfolkshow.co.uk.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here