Driverless machinery on farms offers a host of eco-friendly benefits compared to traditional heavy agricultural equipment, says a farmer who uses the same innovation as Jeremy Clarkson

Advantages include less soil compaction, reduced chemical use, lower emissions, and greater resource efficiency, making autonomous vehicles a positive development for environmental sustainability in agriculture, William Mumford, a fifth-generation arable farmer in Cambridgeshire in England, told the upcoming Climate Smart Food event.

Mumford, the managing director of ASC Autonomy, a company specializing in precision agriculture and the supply of autonomous farming technology, is recognized as one of the first farmers in the UK to use driverless tractors. He currently uses an AgBot T2 - also championed by celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson, who called it 'the coolest machine in the world'.

"With the AgBot we are lowering the pressure on the soil, reducing compaction, and reducing our use of fuel," Mumford said.

Soil compaction is a major issue with conventional heavy machinery. Lower compaction preserves soil structure, promotes healthier root development, and maintains soil health and biodiversity.

"Because we are reducing the soil compaction, we are massively reducing the environmental impact of producing the food," he went on. "The nutrient uptake is much better. Compacted soils don't allow good root development; they don't allow good uptake of nutrition. A lot the nutrition we put in the soil is either lost to the environment or leaches into water sources.

"If we've got far better soil structure, we get better roots and better nutrient uptake. That will allow us either to produce more grain because more of the nutrition gets into the crop or put less nutrition on because the crop is more efficient

"The final thing to consider - though we don't have numbers yet - is NOx emissions. Compacted soils tend to lead to poor decomposition of the previous crop and that can increase the NOX emissions from the soil."

The drawbacks of autonomy

But there are challenges too. While many electric lightweight autonomous tractors exist, the AgBot 2 is not fully electric, using a diesel engine combined with an electric drive system.

Another downside is a hefty retail price of £310,000 (€363,000/$425,000). But the high upfront costs of the machine are worth it, Mumford said. "If we can reduce our soil compaction significantly and we can get even 5% improvement in nutrient uptake and a 5% increase in yield, this will be one of the best things we've invested in for many years."

The labour savings are another clear advantage offered by autonomy. The AgBot can work unsupervised, freeing owners to do other things while the machine handles repetitive fieldwork. While the AgBot is working Mumford is "becoming a better farmer", he noted. "I'm paying more attention to the crops. I'm paying more attention to the office work and paying more attention to my family."