Wroot Water Systems from Wroot in S Yorkshire had an interesting system for ensuring that crop chemicals work as effectively as possible.

Its O-Spray software knows the optimum soil moisture level, wind speed, humidity, temperature and solar radiation for each agrochemical or tank mix and each crop.

It then uses data from its own (or the farmer’s) weather station to compare current conditions with the ideal ones and alerts the farmer to the best spraying conditions two days before they happen.

Typical cost for a 250-500ha (600-1200 acre) farm is £1000/yr for the O-spray and £600/yr for the weather data.