Agrii has announced a new partnership with Telus Agriculture that is says will transform how farm data is connected and used across digital technologies.
The collaboration will integrate Agrii’s Contour platform with Telus Crop Management, bringing greater interoperability across a farm’s digital ecosystem.
Dr Ruth Mann, head of Integrated Crop Technologies at Agrii, said the partnership supports the industry’s move towards Agriculture 5.0 – the next stage in the evolution of farming, building on precision technologies while keeping farmers and agronomists central to decision-making.
“We’ve been looking at how artificial intelligence (AI) can take all of the big data available – such as from sensors, satellites, drones, AI and other emerging technologies – and pull it together to provide better analytics,” she said.
“Through our collaboration with Telus, that is exactly what we will now be able to achieve, freeing up time to focus on the things that really matter when it comes to optimising agronomic decisions.”
Ruth said the defining feature of Agriculture 5.0 is the role of people in the system, with technology designed to support rather than replace human judgement.
“We can use AI to analyse data and identify trends and risks in real time, then supply that information back to the agronomist and the farmer, who can make the final decisions using their experience and historic knowledge,” she explained.
Dr Mann pointed to results from Agrii’s digital technology farm trials as evidence that this approach can deliver clear commercial returns.
“When we start to use technology there is usually an increase in input costs, and we did see around a 7% rise in this particular winter wheat trial,” she said.
“However, those costs were offset by more targeted decision-making, with yields increasing by around 0.8 tonnes per hectare through the combined use of data, AI, and farmer and agronomist insight.”
The trials also delivered a 23% reduction in kg CO₂e, an improvement in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and an increase in gross margins of £137/ha – highlighting the potential to improve both financial and environmental performance.
Ben Hatton, manager of sales at Telus Agriculture, added: “This partnership is about making technology work better on farm; by focusing on integration and data standards, we can ensure information flows smoothly, helping turn real-time data and insights into action.
“By bringing our technologies together, we can help make better use of both the data and the human expertise already on farm.”
The integration sits within Agrii’s wider Rhiza digital ecosystem, with Contour continuing to act as the core platform through which data are brought together to support on-farm decisions.
