CropAid’s development programme now extends beyond formulation alone. For the current UK season, CropAid has teamed up with Ian Beecher Jones, owner of JoJo’s Vineyard and chairman of the WineGB Technology Group.
Ian has been testing various technologies at his vineyard in the Chiltern Hills near Henley-on-Thames, which he planted with his wife Tess in 2019. “Managing frost is challenging for everyone,” said Ian. “I saw the CropAid AntiFrost product at an industry event in November and thought it was an interesting way of protecting vines from frost. However, applying the product with a conventional sprayer, starting in March in a wet year, was going to cause soil compaction issues which would have consequences to the vines. So, I thought, why not look at another method of application using drones?”
Ian continued: “With the change in regulations which allowed drones to apply non-MAPP regulated products from the air in 2024, it seemed a sensible approach. We’ll be working with Steve Frost from SAS Agri Drones who has extensive experience with drone application. There are six of us in the trial in the Thames and Chilterns region. The main aim is to look at the benefits of the CropAid biostimulant on the vines for frost protection and then look at the opportunities for the rest of the season.”
Drone application offers several potential advantages:
- Ultra-rapid deployment ahead of overnight frost events
- Consistent canopy coverage, including difficult terrain and tight row spacing
- Reduced soil compaction compared with tractor sprayers
- Lower labour and fuel requirements
- Reduced operational carbon footprint.
CropAid believes the partnership represents the next step in combining field-proven biostimulants and precision agriculture technologies into an integrated frost management system. Subject to UK trial results, the programme is expected to expand into other major wine-growing regions.
Independent trial summaries, technical data sheets and distributor information are available at www.cropaid.com
