Britain's favourite fresh produce magazine since 1895
By Michael Barker
Monday 19th May 2014, 10:54 GMT
Passion for Science
TV science specialist Sarah Cruddas knows a thing or two about how technology can help boost the farming sector
Sarah Cruddas strophysicist, weather forecaster, science correspondent and journalist – and all before the age
- “There are products that tell you exactly
- weather patterns in space as an example of
how forecasting accuracy is being improved, adding that it could allow growers to time when to plant crops so as to avoid any severe weather patterns. where they need to spray so they use fewer pesticides. That’s creating less waste for farming and bringing down costs.”
A
of 30. Sarah Cruddas hasn’t taken her foot off the gas in a career that has taken her from Nasa’s space centre in the US to North Korea via the living rooms of Britain, yet the likeable 29-year-old is also uniquely placed to give an informed view of how the fresh produce industry can use technology to progress.
- A
- passionate advocate of scientific
advancement and its practical application in industry, Cruddas says robotics has a big future, from machines harvesting crops to artificial crop pickers. “Robotics has got a great place in farming,” she enthuses. “It’s never going to replace human beings, but I think the way we farm has got to change.”
Cruddas’s interest in farming goes beyond a professional one – her great-grandfather, Sid Parsons, used to import fruit and veg and sell it at Covent Garden, not to mention the fact that her first-ever job as a youngster was picking cherry tomatoes.
The industry has changed somewhat since Parsons first made his way in the trade, and thanks to scientific advancement the way people farm looks set to change radically in the coming decades as well.
Cruddas presented a BBC Radio 4 show in the Costing the Earth series, Robot Farmers, which outlined what the future of farm technology could look like – showcasing
The weather – and its unpredictability – is one of the constant headaches facing growers, and Cruddas is keen to emphasise that science is helping there too. “Our three-
© Copyright Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com 2014. The copyright on this article and all content published on Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com is held by Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com Limited, a joint venture between Market Intelligence Limited and Dr Rolf M Wolf Media GmbH. All rights reserved. Neither this article nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, including printouts, screen grabs and information retrieval systems, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.
everything from self-controlled tractors and satellite farming to biomimicry and robotics. “We’ve got a growing population and we need to farm smarter, and I think science can have an excellent role in that,” she begins. “That’s everything from biomimicry to flying spheres monitoring fields. Nasa is launching a new probe this year that will tell you where the best soil and water is, so farmers will know where to farm. day forecast is now as accurate as the nextday forecast was in the 70s, so weather forecasting is improving massively. We need to understand more about our weather to help farming in the future.”
Cruddas on...
Farming and science: “People don’t really think about it or appreciate all the work that farmers do, and how much science and technology is helping to improve farming techniques and is going to help significantly in the future. What
She cites improving understanding of
I’ve learnt is that farming sadly seems to be an industry that people don’t want to go into, and we need to change that because we take food and farmers for granted.”
: “Looking at recent history, the chances are we’ll see more extreme weather events and we need to get used to that. The way we farm and the way we work the land needs to adapt to changes in the weather. It could be positive in the way of growing new things in Britain.”
: “Travel is my passion. North Korea is the most unusual place I’ve been to. My favourite place? South of France, Monaco, and I go to America all the time.”
Climate change: “You can’t just attribute one bad weather event to climate change. Climate is seen over a long period of time, so yes you could have the driest summer since records began but records haven’t been around for that long. The Earth’s climate does change naturally, we know that for a fact. We naturally go through ice ages and we are coming out of one at the moment. All the scientific evidence points to the fact that climate change is happening as a result of human intervention as well, but you can’t say the weather is just
Sarah Cruddas factfile
Sarah Cruddas studied astrophysics before switching to broadcast journalism, where she made her mark as a BBC TV weather forecaster. From there she went on to become a BBC science correspondent, before going freelance for organisations including Sky, ITV and Channel 4. She also writes for a number of titles including The Sunday Times and New Scientist. The 29- year-old has done a number of programmes relevant to the food production industry, most notably Robot Farmers for BBC Radio 4.
Robotics: “Yes, you’ll have a robot in place picking the fruit, but you’ll have people working to design the robot, so you’re creating new jobs in a different industry. And you’ll always have a human there checking the robot is doing its job.”
GM: “From what I know it’s fine – the science stands up. We have a growing population and we need to feed them. GM does offer a good solution, but the problem is you’ve got celebrity-backed campaigns going against it. But often with celebrity campaigns you’ve got people who don’t really understand everything about it but just hear all the demon words, and attributed to climate change.” Long-term planning: “One of the issues is governments are only looking at shortterm plans and we haven’t got a long-term vision for climate change yet. That’s an issue that goes across the world. It will be one of the biggest stories of this century, and it’ll have a huge impact on farming and the way we grow stuff.”
Want to know more? You can follow Sarah Cruddas on Twitter @sarahcruddas or find out further information via her website at
celebrities have got a big voice. There needs to be a more open debate on both sides of the story, with farmers getting a chance to give their voice about why they think it’s so important.”
Extremes of weather
Travel
© Copyright Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com 2014. The copyright on this article and all content published on Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com is held by Market Intelligence Ltd - Fruitnet.com Limited, a joint venture between Market Intelligence Limited and Dr Rolf M Wolf Media GmbH. All rights reserved. Neither this article nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, including printouts, screen grabs and information retrieval systems, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.
