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US drinks company Pepsi is disseminating intelligent crop management technology to its farmers worldwide.

The new i-crop farming technology, which was developed in conjunction with agronomists at Cambridge University over five years, is hoped to help commercial farmers reduce their water use and carbon emissions, while also boosting yield and quality.

The tool measures the inputs and outputs of farming activity, producing precise data that helps growers identify when and how heavily to irrigate crops.

Tests are already being conducted at 22 farms in the UK, and initial results at some locations have reached 90 per cent efficiency. If trials are successful, the technology will be rolled out across Europe in 2011 and then be ushered further afield in 2012 and installed in farms across India, China, Mexico and Australia.

The technology is intended to help Pepsi deliver on its pledge to cut water use by 50 per cent in the next five years.

As one of the world's biggest food and beverage companies, holding Tropicana, Quaker, sports drink Gatorade and Frito-Lay (Walkers' international brand), under its wing, Pepsi is a major investor in global farming. In the UK alone, it is the largest buyer of domestic potatoes and one of the biggest purchasers of local oats and apples. 

Pepsi is also trialing other initiatives in its 350 UK farms including the introduction of new low-carbon fertilizers, and plans to replace more than three quarters of PepsiCo UK's current potato stock with varieties that will significantly improve farmers' yields and reduce waste by 2015.

Richard Evans, president of PepsiCo UK and Ireland, said: 'Farming is in the DNA of our business - we rely on fresh produce every day. Finding ways to produce more food with less environmental impact is essential to our future. i-crop has the potential to revolutionize the way we farm, enabling our farmers to save costs and water and carbon consumption, while at the same time improving their yields. I am immensely proud of this innovation which I hope will also benefit PepsiCo farmers around the world.'

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