New research backed by Defra hoped to boost insights for growers and breeders into optimal pollination methods
A new research project aiming to help make pollination in commercial fruit production more resilient, manageable and measurable has begun.
Led by UK agri-tech startup AgriSound with the James Hutton Institute and James Hutton Ltd (JHL), the project is supported through Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
The project builds on AgriSound’s existing Precision Pollination system, which uses Polly bioacoustic sensors and AI to monitor pollinator activity within crops.
The new project will extend the technology beyond its existing use in monitoring bumblebees in strawberries, with the aim of developing a multi-species, multi-crop system covering honeybees, bumblebee, solitary bees and hoverflies.
Trials will span a range of commercially important crops, including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries.
Pollination is critical to fruit set, quality and marketable yield, but it is still often managed through observation and assumptions about pollinator activity..
Dr Casey Woodward, CEO of AgriSound, said: “Pollination is mission-critical to fruit production, but it is still too often managed by assumption. We are very happy to be working with JHL and JHI in this project to support not just fruit producers but also breeders.
“Our goal is to make precision pollination scalable across crops and useful as a day-to-day production tool,” she added.
Trials at the James Hutton Institute will generate data to refine pollinator detection algorithms and investigate how pollinator activity changes across crops and production systems. Researchers will also examine links between pollinator activity, fruit set, yield and quality.
The findings could help growers make more informed decisions about hive placement, pollinator selection, colony management and the timing of interventions.
The project will also investigate how flower traits and plant genotypes influence pollinator attraction and pollination efficiency. This could provide breeders with new evidence to support the development of fruit varieties that are resilient, commercially productive and attractive to pollinators.
By replacing assumptions with measurable data, the project aims to help fruit businesses improve the consistency and efficiency of pollination while also supporting biodiversity and climate resilience.
Dr Susan McCallum, soft fruit geneticist and breeder at the James Hutton Institute, said: “This collaboration has the potential to deliver valuable, real-world insights that will help growers and breeders make more informed decisions and build a more resilient and sustainable future for fruit production.”
