Agriculture • Horticulture • Forestry • Environment • Amenity LANDWARDSEarly Spring 2005 Robotics Crop Storage www.iagre.org Volume 60 No.1 Volume Bionic Buildings IAgrE JOURNAL BRANCH MEETINGS DIARY of EVENTS MARCH 2005 Speakers to include: Jeff Kew, RSPB; Tuesday 12 April 19.30 h Professor Jim Harris and Dr Mike East Midlands Branch Monday 7 March Hann, Cranfield University Silsoe; and ‘State of the Art Milking’ – A tour East Anglia Branch a representative from Ready Mix and presentation of one of the Branch AGM and Technical Talk Concrete country’s most modern milking par- Speaker: Professor Dick Godwin Talk:‘The Society for the lours Further details to be advised Environment’ Venue: Nottingham University’s School Speaker: Christopher Whetnall of Agriculture, Sutton Bonnington, Monday 7 March 19.15 h Tour: Marston Vale Millenium Nottinghamshire West Midlands Branch Country Park This is a joint meeting with the IAgrE Branch AGM and Technical Talk Venue: Marston Vale Millennium Livestock Group ‘An Update of Spraying Country Park, Marston Moretaine, Development’ Bedford Wednesday 13 April 18.15 h Speaker: President-Elect, Professor Paul For further details contact the IAgrE Western Branch Miller, SRI Secretariat or visit the IAgrE website Branch AGM and Technical Talk Venue: Friends Meeting House, www.iagre.org ‘New Holland Agricultural Diesel Stratford upon Avon Engine Development’ For more information contact: Monday 14 March 19.30 h Speaker: Mike Hawkins, New Holland [email protected] Wrekin Branch Venue: Lackham House,Wiltshire Branch AGM and Technical Talk College, Lackham Monday 7 March 19.30 h Speaker: Presidential Representative Contact Nick Paul [email protected] if Wrekin Branch Venue: Harper Adams University interested in attending this meeting. ‘Second User Applications for College Military Vehicles’ Final details to be confirmed – contact Monday 25 April 19.15 h Speaker: Stuart Hockley, Head of Branch Secretary West Midlands Branch Business Development, Leavesley ‘Stirling Engines – An Update by International Thursday 17 March 2005 Norris Bomford Venue: Harper Adams University Young Engineers Competition Venue: Salford Priors Village Hall College For further details contact the IAgrE For more information contact: Secretariat [email protected] Tuesday 8 March 19.30 h Yorkshire Branch Friday 18 March 19.30 h ‘Bird Management CSL’ East Midlands Branch Venue: Buckles Inn,Askham Richard Branch AGM and Dinner Provisional date - final details to be con- Venue: The Red House Country firmed – contact Branch Secretary Manor, Main Street, Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire Wednesday 9 March Meet at 19.30 h for 20.00 h dinner IAgrE Annual Conference ‘Sustainability in Engineering Design’ March Venue: Harper Adams University Scottish Branch College Branch AGM and Conference See details on Back Cover of Landwards Date and further details to be con- firmed Thursday 10 March Herts & Essex Branch APRIL 2005 Branch AGM and Technical Talk Speaker: Geoff Freedman, Forestry Civil Tuesday 12 April 19.30 h Engineering, Forest Enterprise Yorkshire Branch Further details to be confirmed Branch AGM and Technical Talk Venue: Buckles Inn,Askham Richard Monday 14 March pm Date and final details to be confirmed – South East Midlands Branch/Soil & contact Branch Secretary Water Specialist Group Mini-conference:‘Restoration Engineering’ Volume 60 No 1, 2005 The Professional Journal for Engineers, Scientists, and Technologists in Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Environment LANDWARDS and Amenity CONTENTS Editor Eur Ing Prof Brian D Witney Feature Articles PhD CEng CEnv FIMechE HonFIAgrE MemASAE FFCS LAND TECHNOLOGY LTD 2 BIONIC BUILDINGS 33 South Barnton Ave, Edinburgh, EH4 6AN The future of agriculture: Agricultural Transformation Tel/Fax:+44 (0)131 336 3129 Clustered Greenfactories E-mail: [email protected] Constantino Valero and co-authors Website: http://www.landtec.co.uk Advertising 8 ENGINEERING DESIGN All enquiries to IAgrE Tel:+44 (0)1525 861096 Your future is at stake Fax: +44 (0)1525 861660 Geoffrey F D Wakeham Origination: David King 9 ROBOTICS Printing: Barr Printers Ltd Harvesting in the future: autonomous self-helping machine Publisher network Landwards is published bimonthly by: Ole Peters and Christiane Albrecht IAgrE, West End Road, Silsoe, Bedford, MK45 4DU 13 CROP STORAGE Tel:+44 (0)1525 861096 Fogged protection for food on the move Fax: +44(0)1525 861660 E-mail: [email protected] Terry Mabbett Website: http://www.iagre.org President Membership Matters centrefold Peter L Redman BSc(Hons) CEnv FIAgrE Chief Executive & Secretary Christopher R Whetnall News and Comment CEnv IEng FIAgrE MemASAE 7 News scan 15 Conference report: Managing soil for the 21st century 22 Company and product information Front cover: ‘Shipping combine harvesters to Bulgaria’ – overtly disguising a flight simulator in preparation for the next generation of parasonic autonomous machines, see feature articles (Photo courtesy:AGCO Ltd) The views and opinions expressed in individual contributions are not those necessarily of IAgrE or the Editor. Landwards is compiled from information received by IAgrE but no responsibility can be accepted by the governing Council, the Publishers or the Editor in respect of any errors or omissions. The Editor reserves the right to edit any material sent to the jour- nal. Material from this publication may be quoted or reported on condition that full credit is given to Landwards and to the author, and that the date of publication and volume number are stated. In the interest of factual reporting, reference to trade names and pro- prietary products may be inevitable. No endorsement of the named products or manufacturers is intended and no adverse criti- cism is implied of similar products which are not mentioned. © The Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) ISSN 1363-8300 BIONIC BUILDINGS A conceptual model of a greenfactory displayed during the lecture presentation at the AgEng 2004 International Conference THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTUTRE: AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION CLUSTERED GREENFACTORIES Constantinos Valero, Pablo Gutierrez, Teresa Riquelme, Victor Gil,Luis Ruiz, Belen Diezma, Maria Marin, Natalia Hernandez and Jose Rodriguez Abstract • energy consumption. suggesting the extent to which A forecast view of agricultural we can influence our future. production is outlined inside a Population More people and higher incomes new type of building with Despite humanity’s success in worldwide are multiplying photosynthetic walls and in vitro feeding a growing world humanity’s impact on the culture inside it. Recent population, the natural resources environment and on natural advances in genetic engineering, upon which life depends, i.e. fresh resources. (Hardner & Rice, 2002; nanoelectronics, biosensors and water, cropland, fisheries and UNFPA, 2002) bionic building will make this forests, are weakening. In the futuristic type of greenhouse new millennium the population Water BIO NOTE possible. growth is slowing at a much Water may be the resource that Constantino Valero, Department of Rural faster rate than was previously defines the limits of development. Engineering, Polytechnic University of Introduction predicted. However, significant The supply of fresh water is Madrid (UPM), Av Complutense s/n, 28040 Looking ahead to year 2200, growth continues, meaning that essentially fixed, and the balance Madrid. 913365862, Spain. E-mail: activities associated with more people will be sharing such between humanity’s demand and [email protected] Dr Valero agricultural engineers have finite resources as fresh water the available quantity is already coordinated the formal presentation of the influenced world characteristics and cropland. precarious. While global project by the participating members of all through previous centuries, in Having reached nearly 6.1 population has tripled over the the team. areas such as: billion in 2000, the human past 70 years, water use has This paper was selected for the UNACOMA • population increase; population continues to grow. grown six-fold. Worldwide, 54% Vision Award 2004, AgEng Conference in • water availability; Population projections for the of the annual available fresh water Leuven, 12-16th September 2004. A web • food production; year 2025 range from 7.2 billion is being used, two thirds of it for page has been created on the project at • land usage; to 8 billion and for 2050 range agriculture. By 2025, this figure http://iru16.iru.etsia.upm.es/atcg_en.htm • biodiversity; and from 7.9 billion to 10.9 billion, could be as high as 70% because 2 LANDWARDS EARLY SPRING 2005 of population growth alone, or consumer, but also as producer. 90%, if per capita consumption everywhere reaches the level of Objectives, materials more developed countries. and methods: available Currently, 434 million technologies people face either water stress A solution should be planned or scarcity. Depending on separating food production from future population growth rates, the land, with the following between 2.6 billion and 3.1 objectives: billion people may be living in • obtaining more land for either water-scarce or water- housing stressed conditions by 2025 • maintaining ecosystems as (UNFPA, 2002). For 2025, preserved as possible, for water usage will be 800 km3 recreation and biodiversity higher, and other related purposes problems will worsen, such as • creating a self-contained, high soil salinity and underground yielding production system water (Hardner & Rice, 2002). which is autonomous in