The future of farming is in safe hands if the 2022 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) is anything to go by, with no fewer than 23 farming- and agri-related projects featuring this year.
This year’s virtual exhibition will be held on the BTYSTE portal from January 12-14 and registration is open now and is free.
While sustainability and the environment are to the fore across a number of projects, other key farming trends have been identified, according to organisers.
These are:
- Natural alternatives to chemical fertilisers;
- Vertical farming;
- Farm efficiency;
- Farm safety;
- Livestock health.
In addressing real and pressing issues currently facing farmers, students are exploring topics such as alternatives to artificial fertilisers, and examining carbon content of the soil on farmland.
The intersection of technology and farming practices has also manifested in students delivering solutions to improve farm safety and efficiency, with projects varying from devices to protect chickens from predators to a remote emergency stopper button to protect farmers from potential farming accidents.
A number of projects included in this year’s exhibition also look at improving farm animal and livestock health, primarily relating to cattle and horses.
BT Young Scientist – a closer look
Agriland took a closer look at some of the impressive projects developed this year that have progressed to the 2022 BTYSTE, which opens tomorrow (January 12):
- Students at Sligo Grammar School have developed a predator detection and pevention system. This is a solar-powered system for poultry buildings on farms to scare potential predators, and alert farmers of a disturbance via text to their mobile phone;
- A power-take-off (PTO) safety stopper device has been developed by students at Meánscoil na mBráithre Criostaí, Kilkenny. This project investigates the use of a remote emergency stopper button to improve farm safety, with a specific focus on the PTO shaft;
- Continuing the tech theme, students at St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Meath, have developed a bottomless bucket, which is a sensory device installed in a Lamlac bucket, which will send the farmer a text when that bucket needs refilling;
- Smart Yard: IoT monitoring of key farm metrics to reduce agricultural emissions is the title of the students’ project from Scoil na mBráithre Chríostaí, Cork. This involves monitoring farm metrics (slurry, concentrate, water, etc.) to enable agriculture to reduce its emissions and carbon footprint while improving farm efficiencies;
- Moving on to more sustainable/environmental farming projects and students at Roscommon Community College, Roscommon, are conducting in investigation into a novel alternative to synthetic fertilisers for a future of sustainable agriculture in Ireland. The aim of this is to, essentially, find a more sustainable and cost-effective method of keeping nutrients in the soil, without using artificial fertilisers;
- A project from St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Meath, is investigating the carbon content of soil – in Co, Meath – with different uses and various factors affecting it;
- At Ardscoil Uí Urmoltaigh, Cork, students are comparing microplastic pollution in cattle farming and the fish industry, and are ascertaining how much plastic waste both industries are creating;
- A project at St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Rush, Dublin, is investigating growing medium alternatives for lettuce. The aim of the project is to support moving away from the unsustainable use of peat moss in the growing of lettuce on a student’s family farm;
- And, at Loreto Secondary School, Meath, a study is looking at whether mixed species sward grazing has an effect on the potential yield of milk – as opposed to the traditional monoculture intensive grazing.
The above are just a selection of the projects featured at this year’s exhibition. Stay tuned to Agriland this week for additional coverage of the event.
We wish all students the very best of luck.