Bosch successfully concludes Black-grass smart farming project
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is trained to spot Black-grass growing among cereal crops
- Smart spraying could lead to lower costs and reduced herbicide use
- Four partners with specialist knowledge came together to deliver the project
Denham, UK: Bosch and its partners have successfully concluded a unique AI-powered farming project, focussed on helping cereal crop farmers manage Black-grass (alopecurus myosuroides). Black-grass is an invasive weed that is difficult to eradicate.
Bosch and its partners created a comprehensive and innovative technology package, where high-tech cameras mounted to a sprayer boom can detect Black-grass in cereal crops and the individual growth stage of each weed. This unique, precision technology ensures the right amount of herbicide is spot applied to the specific field area.
Two advantages result from the technology. Firstly, the farmer can save money because herbicide use is optimised via spot application and is not uniformly used across an entire field. Secondly, Black-grass becomes less of a problem and over time its prevalence is reduced. The core aspect of this project was the use of AI, which determined where Black-grass is growing and the developmental stage of each weed.
Project in detail
A variety of steps were needed to complete the project. The initial project objective was to see if Black-grass could be identified, and Rothamsted Research in a laboratory environment helped train Bosch cameras to detect Black-grass by photographing it from a certain height over a lengthy period of time as it grew. Bosch then trained an AI algorithm to apply this knowledge to images that came from cameras that were driven across a field. The aim was to identify areas where the Black-grass is growing. An important point is that the camera doesn’t request the sprayer to target a particular plant. Instead, it asks the sprayer to target the area where it can see Black-grass.
As the project progressed the set-up of the Chafer Machinery crop sprayer was adapted, for example with a greater number of cameras and different boom heights on each side of the sprayer. This continuous development eventually resulted in a fully equipped boom with 28 cameras.
Peter Frankland, Application Engineer at Bosch, said: “This was a truly collaborative project. The agronomic part of the process was managed by BASF Digital Farming, using its xarvio Digital Farming Solutions platform to generate customised maps for use by the Chafer sprayer and to determine the herbicide dose and type. Rothamsted gave us the understanding of types of cultivation that farmers use and some methods of solving the Black-grass problem without using crop protection. We worked together to ensure the best possible outcome, and we tackled the various challenges that came up. For example, in our discussions about the impact of evolving farming techniques with Rothamsted Research, we learnt that farmers increasingly adopt no-till or low-till methods and so weed control becomes a more significant challenge. Unlike ploughing, which buries Black-grass seeds and prevents germination, these practices leave seeds closer to the surface. There’s a lot of science behind the process.”
Rothamsted Research had an additional way of confirming the project trial results. Its researchers used quadrants, precisely localised to count Black-grass occurrences. Each quadrant is consistently measured to check that the Black-grass is reducing. One of the more challenging aspects of the project was to train the AI.
Muhammad Kassem, AI Expert at Bosch, explains how it was done: “At the start we didn’t have anything to benchmark this against. As we progressed through the project the model became much more mature to the point where we could detect Black-grass on unseen images with a high level of accuracy. Overall, we scanned around 5000 images, covering a variety of different seasons and where Black-grass is growing among different crops, not only wheat but also barley. Each time the sprayer completed a pass across the field we generated such a high volume of images that it took a couple of days to download them all. Then we used coding to clean up the images, another code to convert them to the right file format and a final code to train the AI algorithm. It was a fantastic project and we've come out of it with good accuracy and that's the key measure.”
Bharath Jayakumar, Director of Global Key Accounts at Bosch UK, said: “We started the journey in late 2021 and initially we scouted for suitable consortium partners and together we then applied to Innovate UK. We secured funding from DEFRA and Innovate UK to develop a local use case for the ONE SMART SPRAY weed management system developed by Bosch and BASF Digital Farming. As a small UK team we’ve worked with Rothamsted Research, Chafer Machinery and BASF Digital Farming to validate the technology to scan and identify Black-grass in wheat. Peter’s expertise in machine integration was crucial here and as the AI Expert on the project, Muhammad, analysed, cleaned and annotated the scanned images and trained the machine learning model to identify weeds among crops. We reached a model accuracy that enabled Black-grass control and reduction over time. This project demonstrates the opportunities we have in the UK to access government funding to enable key innovations for the UK market. It also supports the development of our associates and the project fits with the objective of the Bosch Mobility UK strategy to grow in markets and sectors outside of our core business areas.”
Collaborative effort
Bosch was the lead partner in the research and development project consortium, which comprised recognised experts from BASF/xarvio Digital Farming Solutions, Chafer Machinery, and Rothamsted Research. Together they were awarded a grant of £1,452,614 for the three-year project from DEFRA and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, under the Farming Innovation Programme – Small R&D Partnership Projects.
Funding for the unique Black-grass project was awarded as part of DEFRA’s Farming Innovation Programme and the UKRI Transforming Food Production challenge.
Contact:
James Bolton
Email: james.bolton@uk.bosch.com
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 417,900 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2024). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 90.5 billion euros in 2024. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. With its business activities, the company aims to use technology to help shape universal trends such as automation, electrification, digitalization, connectivity, and an orientation to sustainability. In this context, Bosch’s broad diversification across regions and industries strengthens its innovativeness and robustness. Bosch uses its proven expertise in sensor technology, software, and services to offer customers cross-domain solutions from a single source. It also applies its expertise in connectivity and artificial intelligence in order to develop and manufacture user-friendly, sustainable products. With technology that is “Invented for life,” Bosch wants to help improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. Bosch’s innovative strength is key to the company’s further development. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 86,900 associates in research and development, of which nearly 48,000 are software engineers.
The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861–1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. It is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the company’s long-term existence and in particular its financial independence – in line with the mission handed down in the will of the company’s founder, Robert Bosch.
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