Autonomous tractor development has been rapidly gathering momentum during the past decade with numerous concepts emerging. But what is thought to have been the first production autonomous tractor in the UK has now been working commercially for over two years, having been purchased by Suffolk farming business Home Farm Nacton in 2021. The farm is centred around the Orwell Park Estate, near Ipswich, where 1,170ha of predominantly very light sandy soils, of which over 98% can be irrigated, enables a long list of crops to be grown. This includes high-value crops of potatoes, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, parsley and flax which are produced alongside more conventional staples such as wheat, barley, vining peas and sugar beet. Additional contract-farmed land increases the farmed-area to just under 2,000ha.
A high…
