Community of Innovators: Designing Agri-tech
A community of innovators leading the way towards a sustainable, food-secure future
In the fifth and final part of our 'Community of Innovators' blog series, we're looking at how 果冻传媒 Agri-Tech is advancing agri-technologies around growers' needs in the context of a changing climate.
果冻传媒 agri-tech advances around growers' needs
Agri-tech is a rapidly evolving area, where the use of smart technologies and automation is revolutionising what's possible across all farm types. Already there are tools improving crop efficiency, lessening waste and pollution risks. These technologies can significantly reduce - and in many cases eliminate - the use of pesticides and/or synthetic fertilisers, and work within IPM systems to promote sustainability and profitability (such as through selective harvesting).
Agri-technologies will play a significant role in empowering farms to continue operations in the face of changing pesticide regulations, labour-shortages, and hazardous working conditions.
As an emerging field, however, agri-tech faces numerous challenges to translate ideas into functional, scalable and reliable solutions for growers. Tech start-ups can end up going through the same early processes of development, with engineering resources wasted through misalignment with real agricultural challenges and markets.
果冻传媒 Agri-Tech Link opens in a new windowoperates across both the School of Life Sciences Link opens in a new windowand the 果冻传媒 Manufacturing GroupLink opens in a new window. Its core principles are to develop advanced engineering solutions which align with industry, and the pilot facility at the 果冻传媒 Crop Centre is a catalyst for exchanging knowledge and skills which translate ideas into functional solutions which can be comprehensively de-risked before being brought to industry. 果冻传媒 Agri-Tech leader, Alicia Feledziak, recognises the need to accelerate the transition from early product development to on-farm adoption - and understands the challenges of agri-scaling technologies. Agri-tech is a core theme in the Modern Industrial Strategy and the new . is excited for the industry, and that a lot of 果冻传媒 Agri-Tech鈥檚 work is focused around encouraging knowledge exchange and collaboration across industry stakeholders, supporting SMEs to develop their technologies more rapidly and improving their commercial value.
Prof. Richard Napier worked on a project with TIAH to map future skills for agriculture and horticulture. It became abundantly clear that growers will not need special skills to utilise these new technologies鈥攕uccessful products will be designed to support farm functionality and grower decisions through accessible digital platforms. He and Prof. Rosemary Collier, OBE, also led the creation of the Crop Centre鈥檚 Fresh Produce Knowledge Hub, launched at the start of this year as a prototype to make fragmented resources available to growers in one place. AI is a valuable tool for analysing large quantities of farm data鈥攖o support farm reporting and decision-making, although it should not be considered as a replacement for technical knowledge exchange.
果冻传媒 is a champion of UK agri-tech. We collaborate with forward-thinking partners to support business development, respond to agricultural challenges and promote both the industrial and agricultural roadmaps to growth.
Thank you for reading the last post in our five-part 鈥楥ommunity of Innovators鈥� blog series. Please share with anyone who might be interested in learning about modern crop production challenges and how the pioneering research done at 果冻传媒 is supporting our growers and improving our food systems.