Seed grower wins innovation gong

SEED potato grower Marc Skivington, of Slainspark Farm, Aberdeenshire, has received the gold ‘Innovator of the Year’ British Farming Award, after coming up with a solution that can ultimately save lives.

His solution, Smart Farmer, is a cloud-based software and mobile app tool which uses a traffic light system to help farmers run checks on machinery before starting a job, and keep on top of maintenance and servicing. The app works with all types of farm machinery, and is available on Apple and Android phones.

As well as seed potatoes, Marc grows turnips and daffodils, milks 600 dairy cows across two sites, fattens 33,000 pigs a year, and has a 300-head beef herd at his 1,800-hectare business at Slainspark Farm.

The silver award winner, David Farquhar, is chief executive of IGS which designs and delivers vertical farms and greenhouse lighting for growers around the world. IGS specialises in Total Control Environment Agriculture (TCEA), which controls every aspect of the climate, including light, wind, rain, nutrition and temperature.