Cloud innovation launches Scotland’s carbon calculator into next generation
Agrecalc has already produced over 20,000 carbon reports for more than 9,000 farm enterprises
The award-winning farm carbon calculator, Agrecalc, will be launching its state-of-the-art version of the platform – Agrecalc Cloud – at this year’s Royal Highland Show.
One of the first carbon calculators to enter the market when it launched in 2007, Agrecalc has been consistently iterated and developed based on intensive scientific research from SRUC and feedback from farmers and the supply chain. To date, it has produced over 20,000 carbon reports for more than 9,000 farm enterprises.
It's an exciting new chapter in the evolution of Agrecalc, which has recently been created as a standalone company, says its agricultural systems modeller, Kaia Waxenberg:
“Farmers are navigating a business world that increasingly demands proof of their sustainability. In this environment, an easy-to-use tool that helps farmers understand and evidence their carbon efficiency is vital. This new Cloud-based version of Agrecalc is the culmination of years of collaborative work with scientists, farmers and industry specialists. We are looking to represent more of each unique farm system, to provide users with the tailored data they need to tell their climate story.
“Precision is key and a clear picture of their carbon management journey allows farmers to identify potential savings or inefficiencies to enable confident, data-informed decision making.”
The enhanced new platform, with all data held in the Cloud, includes a streamlined and easy-to-use interface as well as greater integration and flexibility with a wider list of crops and inputs, the ability to run more than one livestock enterprise per farm and to apply multiple different organic materials and manures to each crop.
It also includes new GHG mitigation options including nitrification, urease and methane inhibitors, and the addition of Anaerobic Digestion as a manure management option. The market-leading precision Agrecalc has been able to hone working with science, farmer and supply chain feedback gives insights in real time.
The Agrecalc team will be joining a number of new businesses and initiatives in the Innovation Corner at the Royal Highland Show, envisaged by the Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) as a space for the technologies and developments which will usher the future of agriculture and the management of natural capital.
Agricultural researcher in soil emissions, Carolina Alvez, who has been trialling Agrecalc Cloud during its development, said:
“I found Agrecalc Cloud to be more interactive and more user-friendly than any other calculator I’ve used before. I have the options to add my own forage, for example, or the fertilisers that I need for my research. There are pre-populated fields with various nutrients, and that saves a lot of time. You can add more information, and you have access to more information, which helps immensely in creating reports, comparing systems - it’s the automation of this that makes a researcher’s life easier. This platform represents a better way of working for farmers, for scientists, for everyone.”
In collaboration with the High Growth Spinout Programme from the Scottish Enterprise, Agrecalc has been able to deliver a next generation software-as-a-service platform, which will futureproof the tool and benefit both existing and new customers.
Agrecalc established itself as an independent company in 2022, though it retains its full research ties with SRUC and consultancy input from SAC Consulting.
Posted by SRUC on 21/06/2023
