Farmers help develop next-generation slug prediction tool
A British research project has built and validated a model that predicts where slugs will attack arable fields, opening a path to targeted treatment that could cut pesticide use and protect yields, FarmingUK reported.
Developed through SLIMERS, a £2.6M program, the tool relies on data gathered by farmers themselves and points toward patch treatment in place of blanket slug-pellet applications. For growers, the shift carries both cost and environmental stakes, with slug damage estimated to cost UK agriculture about £43.5M a year.
How farmers helped build the model
A team of 28 “Slug Sleuth” farmers and agronomists collected field data across monitoring sites, recording where slugs concentrated and under what conditions. That ground-level data let Professor Keith Walters and his team at Harper Adams University develop and validate a model predicting where slugs are most likely to be found in arable fields. Soil sampling by project partner Agrivation fed into the analysis.
One participating farmer said the work showed slug problems could be managed in a more environmentally friendly way, though he cautioned that further trials are needed before the approach is ready for wide rollout.
What is SLIMERS?
SLIMERS stands for Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience to Slugs. It is a three-year, £2.6M research program funded through Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and delivered by Innovate UK. The project is led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), headed by Tom Allen-Stevens, and brings together more than 100 farms and seven partners, including Harper Adams University, the UK Agri-Tech Centre, the John Innes Centre, Fotenix, Farmscan Ag and Agrivation.
Toward precision slug control
Alongside prediction and precision mapping, the consortium is developing an AI-based autonomous system for targeted biological control using nematodes, and exploring slug-resistant wheat varieties. In the current season, Slug Sleuth farmers are treating only predicted hotspots to fine-tune the models. The next step, growers say, is funding to roll out variable-rate applications and build the dataset needed to prove the approach at scale.
Why it matters and what comes next
Tighter regulation of slug pellets and growing pressure to cut chemical use have left arable farmers searching for alternatives. Patch treatment guided by risk maps could reduce both cost and environmental impact, replacing blanket spreading with targeted action. SLIMERS is due to conclude in August 2026, when the consortium aims to show a commercially viable route to predicting and treating one of arable farming’s most persistent pests.
Source: FarmingUK
What to know about the SLIMERS slug project
Researchers at Harper Adams University developed and validated a model that predicts where slugs are most likely to strike in arable fields, using data collected by farmers. The model underpins risk maps that growers can use to target treatment at hotspots rather than spreading pellets across whole fields.
SLIMERS is a three-year, £2.6M program funded through Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and delivered by Innovate UK. It is led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network and involves more than 100 farms and seven partners, including Harper Adams University, the UK Agri-Tech Centre and the John Innes Centre.
A team of 28 farmer and agronomist “Slug Sleuths” recorded where slugs gathered and under what conditions, while partner Agrivation carried out soil sampling. Researchers used that data to map the field characteristics linked to slug hotspots and to forecast where damage is most likely.
The consortium is developing an AI-based autonomous system for biological slug control using nematodes and is exploring slug-resistant wheat varieties. Farmers are now treating only predicted hotspots to refine the models, with variable-rate field application the next target. The project concludes in August 2026.
Slug damage costs UK agriculture an estimated £43.5M a year, and tighter rules on slug pellets are pushing farmers toward alternatives. Targeting treatment at predicted hotspots could cut both pellet use and cost while reducing the environmental footprint of slug control.
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