Researchers at the University of Warwick are helping to develop an artificial intelligence-powered pest monitoring system that enables UK vegetable growers to detect damaging insect pests earlier.
TRACER-Pest is a new collaborative project bringing together growers, agronomists, AI specialists, and industry to develop automated pest monitoring for onion and brassica crops. The project aims to provide growers with near real-time information about pest pressure, allowing more informed decisions about when intervention is genuinely needed, reducing unnecessary crop protection treatments and improving the sustainability of commercial crop production.
Researchers from Warwick Crop Centre will contribute their globally-recognised expertise in integrated pest management, insect identification and pest biology to ensure the new technology accurately identifies target pests.
Professor Rosemary Collier OBE, Professor of Integrated Pest Management at the University of Warwick, said: "Effective pest management depends on knowing precisely when pests are present and whether action is genuinely needed. As growers face increasing pressure to produce healthy crops while using crop protection products more precisely, access to timely, accurate information has never been more important.
"Our role in TRACER-Pest is to ensure the technology is underpinned by a detailed understanding of pest biology and behaviour. By combining our scientific expertise in pest identification and monitoring with advances in artificial intelligence, we can help develop systems that are accurate, robust and practical for use in commercial crops.
"Ultimately, the project has the potential to give growers greater confidence in the decisions they make, enabling earlier intervention where it is needed, reducing unnecessary treatments and supporting more sustainable crop protection."
The project focuses on two economically important pests: bean seed fly in onions and swede midge in brassicas. Both can cause significant crop losses but are difficult to monitor consistently using traditional field scouting methods. Warwick researchers will provide scientific support throughout the project, including pest identification, data annotation, access to research facilities and insect cultures.
The system could help growers move from reactive pest control towards more precise, evidence-based crop protection, protecting yields while reducing unnecessary inputs and supporting more sustainable horticultural production.
