Origin links up with UCD for crop science research

Irish agri-services group Origin has said it will embark on a precision agriculture and crop science collaborative research partnership with University College Dublin.

Supported by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the collaboration encompasses a strong multi- and inter-disciplinary approach. The aim of the programme is to build digitally based and user-driven advisory tools that provide rapid and localised decision support for agronomists and farmers.

A cornerstone of the development will be the creation of a scalable crop intelligence platform, which will incorporate consistent and real-time data analytical approaches to optimise sustainable crop performance.

The five-year development programme will be financed by a €17.6 million investment which is co-funded by Origin and SFI.

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Intellectual capacity

“The collaboration provides Origin with a development platform which accesses the very substantial intellectual capacity, advanced data analytics, sensing technologies and modelling resources of UCD,” Origin chief executive Tom O’Mahony said.

“The merging of conventional crop science and agronomic application with digital technology and prescriptive data analytics will enhance Origin’s knowledge-intensive offering along with improving the capacity to scale our service.”

Origin recently bolstered its in-house science capability with the appointment of Prof Jimmy Burke as head of research and knowledge transfer.

In a note, Davy Stockbrokers said the move to deepen Origin’s capability in precision agriculture and crop science “is a welcome and necessary development for the group”.