Anuland's FieldSense device. Image: Anuland
As well as taking top prize at the National Dairy Show in Cork, Limerick-based Anuland won a further two awards for its FieldSense agritech device.
Limerick-based agritech company Anuland was announced as the overall winner at the National Dairy Innovation Awards 2019.
The awards took place at the National Dairy Show in Millstreet, Co Cork, over the weekend. As well as winning the top prize, Anuland also won the award for best start-up and the technology award in the show’s gold category.
As he accepted the prize, founder David McDonnell said: “We are thrilled to receive such recognition for our company and our technology. We all know how precious time is and not having enough time to set aside to walk the farm measuring grass each week is a real concern.
“Our camera technology enables farmers to measure their grass on the go, by taking a photo of the grass whilst doing other daily tasks. This image data feeds into our system giving accurate grass measurement in real time, helping farmers to keep on top of grass management decisions at all times.”
FieldSense
Founded by McDonnell, who began his career as a farmer helping his brother and father with a 400-cow dairy and poultry business, Anuland was set up to help farmers optimise their limited resources and encourage sustainability.
McDonnell recently told Siliconrepublic.com: “The ultimate goal is to help farmers produce food sustainably, allowing farming to continue for future generations. Sustainability is not just about being environmentally sustainable, which is extremely important, it must also be about financial sustainability.”
The start-up’s main product is called FieldSense and it aims to make farming more financially and environmentally sustainable. This device helps farmers track fertiliser usage and daily growth rates of grass, without them needing to walk the farm.
Anuland’s FieldSense monitoring station is placed at the headland of a farm’s paddocks, behind an electric fence to avoid damage. It collects soil and environmental metrics then transmits the data to an insights platform in the cloud. Then, it generates recommendations based on the data it has collected, which can be retrieved by the user anywhere through the FieldSense app.
