Back to the Future with Agri-TechE Members

In this world of uncertainty, especially in farming, one thing everyone wants is a glimpse of what’s ahead.  

From long-range weather forecasts to future commodity prices, the impact of climate change and government decisions, a crystal ball is the one technology no-one has yet been able to successfully deliver to our industry.  

But when you’re dealing with data, we know that the more pieces of information you can gather, the more accurate the picture that emerges.  

And it is this premise that has inspired Agri-TechE ’s unique foresight project: “Back to the Future”.

A Unique Set of Experts 

Designed as part of our 10^th anniversary celebrations, we’re canvassing our wide, global membership to share their insights into what the next decade will hold for the industry. Put together, their views will form a unique and – we hope, insightful – set of perspectives about the future.  

It is the diversity of the Agri-TechE membership that gives this project its power. From farmers and growers to technology developers and researchers, business support professionals, investors and funders… everyone has a different lens on the industry. All include leading organisations that are embracing the future, so they form a powerful cohort to share their expertise about the direction of travel for the industry and their role within it.  

This 360 degree view of the industry will give everyone fresh perspectives outside their own area of expertise. We’ll track the evolution of what have been the game-changers of the last decade and where – together – we are headed, and it is this collective force which will drive the industry forward.  

Addressing the everyday challenges confronting agriculture and our broader society, Agri-TechE provides a platform for our member organisations to pioneer solutions that reflect a rapidly evolving landscape. From fleets of robots and UAVs working in tandem, to sentinel plants as early warning disease systems, to research into new production systems such as strip cultivation and paludiculture, the world has transformed significantly since Agri-TechE ‘s inception in 2014. Coupled with new business models, new rewards and incentives, and new challenges to the regulatory frameworks, our membership is uniquely placed to offer a well-informed direction of travel for the decade ahead.  

A Unique Set of Insights 

We want to help the industry, policy-makers, researchers and regulators appreciate the opportunities, and the challenges across different parts of the ecosystem – everyone will have different, expert views, but already some consistent themes are emerging.  

The challenges articulated by our members are diverse, some of which have already been tackled in other industries. So this project will not only provide thought leadership to those in agriculture and horticulture, but it will highlight what already exists in agri-tech, and where we could use some input from those sector-agnostic solutions. 

Over the next few months you’ll be seeing some teasers on social media and on members’ directory pages on the Agri-TechE website, culminating in a set of multi-media outputs at the REAP Conference in November.  

As Becky Dodds, Agri-TechE ’s Director of Communities commented “For us, celebrating 10 years is all about celebrating the people and the members who have been part of our journey over the past decade. They are such a diverse group, it’s been fascinating to collect such varied thinking over how the industry has changed since our inception, and all the different visions of the future we can expect.” 

So who knows what the future will hold? Empowered by AI? Enabled by robots? Enhanced by enabling regulation? Given the rate of development and adoption of technology over the last decade, we can’t help but wonder what we will be writing in the blog celebrating our 20^th birthday.  

In the film which inspired the name of our “Back to the Future” project, Doc Brown transforms the DeLorean into a time travel machine and declares “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” 

How different will our industry look in a decade? Join us and help build the map.  

For current members to contribute, click here to find out more about our Back to the Future project. Or click here to find out about Membership of Agri-TechE .

To view submissions, head to our Member News – we’ll be releasing new posts throughout 2024!