![\"Dave](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/da40b64419113096ce31eda21b612d12.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nFarmers are using drones to spread seaweed on their crops as they grapple with the rising cost of chemical fertilisers.<\/p>\n
The drone technology being used “is on a different level”, according to farmer Andrew Ward, who used it to boost his winter wheat crop in Leadenham, Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n
Synthetic fertilisers, which are used widely in farming, are often imported and have become more expensive since the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
A National Farmers Union (NFU) spokesperson said there would always be a need for chemical fertilisers “to help farmers feed people at scale and pace”, but farmers were always open to exploring alternatives.<\/p>\n
Frazer Bloor, a dairy farmer in North Shropshire, is also a qualified drone pilot.<\/p>\n
He said he had been busier than usual with requests to apply seaweed using his drone.<\/p>\n
With its 8ft (2.4m) wing-span, the aircraft is an imposing sight as it flies through the skies.<\/p>\n
“This drone can carry 50kg (110lb),” Bloor said, which allowed it to hold enough liquidised seaweed to treat a large area of crops in one flight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Seaweed processor Dave Edwards says he is seeing a surge in orders due to rising fertiliser costs [BBC]<\/p>\n
Bloor used the drone to scan and map Ward’s winter wheat fields before treatment, to identify areas that needed more or less product.<\/p>\n
Ward said the method reduced waste and helped growers who “have a very big problem at the minute in trying to make a profit”.<\/p>\n
Winter wheat is typically grown for use in bread, breakfast cereals and biscuits.<\/p>\n
According to the United Nations<\/a>, about a third of the world’s fertilisers – such as urea, potash, ammonia and phosphates – usually pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blocked since the beginning of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.<\/p>\n The NFU warned UK food prices were likely to increase as a result<\/a>, while Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of one of the world’s biggest fertiliser producers Yara, said the interuption to supplies of fertiliser could cost up to 10 billion meals<\/a> a week globally and will hit poorest countries hardest.<\/p>\n The use of seaweed as a fertiliser is not new.<\/p>\n But Dave Edwards, one of several seaweed processors, said they had seen a surge in inquiries since the war began.<\/p>\n “We’ve increased by about 20-30% at the moment,” said Edwards.<\/p>\n The seaweed is harvested from the North Sea in its raw form, leading to some concerns about the impact on sealife.<\/p>\n But synthetic fertilisers also have an environmental impact, due to the carbon footprint of imports.<\/p>\n Edwards said natural fertilisers like seaweed could be crucial to national food security.<\/p>\n “If food gets short, we have got to have something to be able to grow it,” he said.<\/p>\n “This will help.”<\/p>\n More on this story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farmers are using drones to spread seaweed on their crops as they grapple with the rising cost of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[20013,13,20016,20019,20012,20015,20018,7372,7373,20014,20017],"class_list":["post-39031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-andrew-ward","tag-britain","tag-chemical-fertilisers","tag-dairy-farmer","tag-dave-edwards","tag-drone-technology","tag-frazer-bloor","tag-national-farmers-union","tag-nfu","tag-seaweed","tag-winter-wheat-crop"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116589535106015081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}