Award-winning Staffordshire family farm to use autonomous tractors to plant 250,000 tulips
A Staffordshire farm is to plant a quarter of a million tulips using an autonomous tractor.
The Bower family at Lower Drayton Farm near Penkridge are going to plant their 2026 tulip crop using autonomous technology for the first time.
Lower Drayton Farm diversified into an open farm which runs seasonal events five years ago. This was to help the business cope with a changing climate, global markets and political uncertainty after Brexit. Food production and environmental work are also important to the farm.
The seasonal events include lambing in the spring, the Maze Maize in the summer, pumpkins in October and a festive event for Christmas.
In 2024, 50,000 tulip bulbs were planted for a walk-through event for Easter 2025, which was a hit.
On Wednesday (November 26) 250,000 bulbs will be planted to make the 2026 event bigger and better - but this time they will be planted by autonomous machines.
Farmer Richard Bower said: "We will be planting our tulip bulbs using two Agxeed autonomous tractors thanks to AS Communications.
"One machine will be on tracks with a subsoiler to mark out the rows for the tulips. The second wheeled machine will be pulling the tulip planter.
"Farmers always embrace innovation: my grandfather started this career farming with horses. Father uses tractors and now we are at the start of the autonomous revolution to help us become more efficient and reduce our carbon footprint while producing climate-friendly food and experiences for our domestic market."
Lower Drayton Farm recently won three awards at the Shropshire Star and The Farmer Rural Awards 2025 including, Education Initiative of the Year, Diversification of the Year and overall Farm of the Year.
