Ten Years of Agri-TechE

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

This famous quote from L. P Hartley’s novel “The Go Between” has got us thinking a little about the past and a lot about the future of agriculture and horticulture, as Agri-TechE celebrates its 10^th birthday.

In particular, we’ve been looking at the rapid pace of change enabled by agri-tech, and how innovation can help prepare for the future.

In terms of agriculture, the last 10,000 years have certainly seen a lot of change, and as recently as a few decades ago, the industry was very different. But the last ten years have seen unprecedented change in the adoption of new technologies and approaches to land management.

One thing is for certain – the weather continues to massively challenge the industry. From the (then) wettest winter on record in 2014, to February 2024 being the warmest February ever globally, these are sobering milestones to register.  

While innovation alone can’t fix the weather, it can help with better forecasting, increasing resilience of soils, plants and animals, and the increasing number of technology tools being deployed by farmers is providing better management options and insights.

Looking Back Ten Years

When we first started, drones were becoming A Thing. Our initial launch – at Cereals 2014 – saw Agri-TechE with a stand showcasing a drone – very rapidly the conversation moved from the type of vehicle to camera technology, then even faster everyone was talking about data collection, analytics and actionable insights.

Then came the rise of the robots. The wave of vertical farming. Alternative proteins and cellular agriculture. And now the focus on regenerative approaches and trajectory towards net zero GHG emissions for the industry.

As the technologies have evolved, so has investor appetite. As the AgFunder reports for the last decade have shown, investment enthusiasm across different solutions waxes and wanes, with some failures and some successes.

Appetites are also becoming more discerning and perhaps even slightly jaded among farmers and investors. Technologies which seemed potentially ground-breaking a decade ago might now be viewed as having missed the boat or dismissed as having limited differentiation from existing solutions.

Thank you to the Long-Standing Ten!

As we reflect over the last decade of Agri-TechE as an organisation, we are so proud that ten members from that initial cohort of fifteen are still with us. So, we’d like to raise a glass to the AF Group, the British Beet Research Organisation, Collison and Associates, Gs Fresh, Hutchinsons, Niab, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and Russell Smith Farms.

We salute you for paving the way for those who have gone on to work alongside you in our membership. Since that First Fifteen, we have gone on to recruit members from every Continent (except Antarctica….and we’re working on that one!). We’ve hosted hackathons, run business plan competitions, and delivered ten REAP conferences (and are about to launch number 11!). And still the new members keep coming – with our latest being a company from Estonia looking at real time monitoring of soil status and another embracing the circular economy for sustainable alternatives to coffee.

Here’s to the Next Ten Years

Our “Back to the Future” project is harnessing the expertise and insights from across the Agri-TechE innovation ecosystem to take a forward look at different areas. Over the coming months you’ll see some of the content from our members emerging and at REAP 2024 we’ll be launching a White Paper summarising a forward look for the industry.

Join us. Be part of the future.  

Members can RSVP to our Birthday Celebration on 4 June, non-members click here to find out about Membership of Agri-TechE .