Earlier this year, Business Secretary Greg Clark unveiled an ambitious £90 million plan to kick-start a ‘tech revolution’ in agriculture.
Addressing the National Farmers Union (NFU) conference in February, Mr Clark acknowledged that the so-called ‘agri-tech’ sector has grown so much that it now contributes £14.3 billion to the British economy and employs some 500,000 people nationwide.
In a bid to help fuel further growth, the Business Secretary announced a new £90 million investment package, which it is thought will ‘bring together’ the likes of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and earth observation in a bid to improve supply chain resilience in the agri-food sector.
Mr Clark said that new technology was increasingly improving the profit-making potential of agricultural businesses by making farming in today’s world the most productive and efficient it has ever been.
He confirmed that the new funding would be delivered as part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), so that the sector could continue to succeed in driving innovation and in creating more and more skilled jobs.
“With the technological revolution that is happening, the skills of the farming workforce need to keep pace,” Mr Clark said.
“New technologies require new abilities and today’s modern British farmer is a Swiss-Army-Knife of skills. An engineer, an environmentalist, a data scientist a biochemist, an energy producer, a tourism entrepreneur, and an investor too.
“As part of the Industrial Strategy, we announced a Transforming Food Production Challenge and I’m delighted to announce the Government will invest £90 million to make this challenge a reality,” he said.
“This will include the creation of ‘Translation Hubs’ bringing together farmers and growers businesses, scientists and Centres for Agricultural Innovation to apply the latest research to farming practice.”
Professor Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), added: “Developing and effectively utilising the latest technologies and research methods will revolutionise the way we produce our food.
“Right across the agricultural sector, we can make the process more efficient, more productive and more sustainable to deliver benefits for growers, producers and consumers. This is precisely why the ISCF was created.
“We are now launching the process for businesses and researchers alike to come together to identify both pressing problems in food production and farming and opportunities that could benefit from the next wave of ISCF funding.
“I want to strongly encourage everyone in the sector to respond to our call for expressions of interest.”
More information about the ISCF can be accessed on the GOV.UK website here.
