Our Facilities

LIAT is based at the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus, a 200-hectare estate which features woodlands, parkland, watercourses, a mixed-enterprise working farm, large field trials sites, robotics labs, engineering workshops and teaching spaces. LIAT has received multi-million-pound capital investment to develop state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure.

The E3 funding for Lincoln enabled investment in our facilities to secure a home for agri-robotics research into the future.

Riseholme Hall Renovations

Once the official residence for the Bishop of Lincoln, Riseholme Hall is a Grade II Listed building at the heart of the University’s agricultural campus. It was renovated in 2020 creating new and improved offices, meeting rooms and teaching and lab spaces.

Polytunnels

A series of protected growing spaces and trials areas for both ground and pot trials. Our latest addition, Polytunnel 9, has state-of-the-art design features for creating a protected growing environment, and optimising light levels for crops. Polytunnels allow for continuously growing crops for robotic trials, and dedicated space allocation for funded research projects.

Strawberry Trials Site & Food Handling Unit

This facility is an invaluable asset for multiple UKRI funded
projects which focus on AI and robotics solutions for farming and food production.

The robotic trials area comprises a scaled-down, commercial strawberry production unit and food handling building for use by non-destructive trials vehicles.

The strawberry farm supports the University’s ongoing work to improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability through innovation, and has been featured on BBC Countryfile a number of times – most recently in October 2021.

Special features include:

• Strawberries grown on raised, tabletop beds
• Collaborations with Saga Robotics, Berry
• Gardens Growers Ltd
• Research in robotics for fruit picking and transportation to fruit handling / packing unit
• Research in robotics image recognition
  technology

Excess produce is donated to local organisations and
charities, which offer affordable food and meals with a
focus on reducing waste.

Walled Garden

The demonstration plots in our Walled Garden offer robotic trials areas for developing technology. The site features annual crops in growing beds, which have been created to dimensions compatible with robotic
vehicles up to 2m wide. The garden has also been used for vision-guided weed detection research in collaboration with Garford Farm Machinery and Saga Robotics and is actively used to support a variety of professional short courses.

Refrigeration Research Centre

The Refrigeration Research Centre is used for testing technology in a retail environment. Imitation supermarket refrigeration precisely models the dynamics of a typical supermarket.

Projects can examine the impact of mass refrigeration on the UK’s carbon footprint and develop innovations to reduce environmental impact. For example, one project explored how to modify refrigeration control in proportion to the available energy on the National Grid – optimising food temperature control to prolong shelf life as well as reducing energy used. The project was funded by Innovate UK, and involved Tesco, IMS Evolve, and the Grimsby Institute as collaborators.

Another recent project, led by innovative start-up Hubl Logistics, investigated the potential for alternative mobile refrigeration units. The project is now developing solutions for the temporary storage and transport of temperature-controlled goods.

Mobile 5G-SA Mast

As part of the Lincoln Agri- Robotics project a private mobile 5G-SA (stand-alone) mast has been installed on site. 5G capability is set to transform farming and agriculture in the future and is used by agri-robotics researchers at the University to enable high-speed
communications across the site.

• 5G can enhance precision agriculture by
  allowing data to be transmitted and processed
  in real time.
• Crops can be treated with precision rather than
  treating an entire field as one.
• 5G enables the use of robots to scan crops using AI to analyse colouring, size, shape and type; this identifies weeds, spraying needs and could inform harvest time.

Other benefits of 5G-enabled farming are still being explored and understood. Our private 5G-SA system can be transported to enable research at other farms across the UK.

Flux Tower

The flux tower is seen as the state-of-the-art in technology for measurement of carbon fluxes from cropping systems. Having a flux tower allows LIAT to compare and contrast different soil and farm management practices on two fields over time. This represents significant investment at the Riseholme site in agricultural carbon research, as well as a collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology &Hydrology (UKCEH).

Agroforestry Area

Our agroforestry area allows for trialing the sustainable farming technique of growing trees alongside crops. This has benefits for soils, biodiversity, water infiltration, and farm diversification. Planting in 2018 was supported by the Woodland Trust.

Engineering Workshops

The refurbished engineering workshops consist of teaching space overlooking the walled garden, offices for Technicians and Engineers, a large engineering space split into bays for dedicated project work and collaborative research with businesses, and a separate robotics lab. The setup provides large open-plan spaces for scaling, testing and trialling robotics.

With renovations in 2020 and 2021, the Engineering Workshops represent the University’s continued investment in the future of agri-robotics research.

Plowright House

A shared space home to both the Barclays Eagle Lab Farm and University robotics researchers.

Barclays Agri-Tech Eagle Lab Farm offers agri-tech entrepreneurs, individuals and businesses co-working and office space, innovative tools, mentoring and coaching from business growth specialists and experts, access to events and the latest thought leadership and the right network to innovate and scale.

While the Eagle Lab Farm is a self-contained entity, the University has a suite of multifunctional work spaces, including an indoor hard-surfaced area for robotic trials and demonstrations, and a small workshop where researchers can carry out 3D printing, small construction, and assembly tasks.

Large Trial Fields

The large trials fields are used to grow crops to support research projects concerning target species such as wheat, beans and linseed. One area is home to a BEIS funded research project. In collaboration with Terravesta, the University is carrying out research into the role of biomass crops such as miscanthus in the UK’s net zero ambitions.

Natural Flood Management Demonstration Site

A natural flood management demonstration site with examples of various methods that could be adopted by farmers to manage flood risk. The installation was funded by the Environment Agency and features leaky barriers, diversion channels and attenuation ponds, which help to slow down the flow of water when heavy rainfall occurs. The site is used for teaching and demonstration and there is considerable wildlife activity
in the area. In recent years, the site has helped to avert a number of flooding events.

Multi-Purpose Trials Area

Once used as a sports pitch, this area has been repurposed to support the University’s growing number of agricultural research projects. This fenced area is used for student projects and container trials. The artificial surface can support lightweight robotic vehicles.