Agricultural policy: where have we got to in England?

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The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

The agricultural transition period in England means a seismic shift in agri-environmental policy, away from the legacy of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and towards a brave new English future focused on Environmental Land Management (ELM). So, one year into this seven-year transition period, where have we got to?

MORE MONEY FOR COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP

At this year’s Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), Secretary of State George Eustice announced that Defra is increasing current and future payment rates for Countryside Stewardship (CS). On average, rates will be increased by 30 per cent. In reality, only some CS options will increase, some will remain the same and some may drop in 2023.

Existing agreement holders will be paid based on the new rates for options where the rate has increased. There is a clear drive from Defra to make CS as attractive as possible in order to encourage more land managers to put in applications. CS is intended to be the ‘bridge’ from the old to the new schemes.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING INCENTIVE: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE?

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is the part of ELM that Defra has shared the most specific information on, it will pay for actions that relate to farming activities and create environmental benefit.

The types of action the SFI will fund include soil management plans, growing green cover crops over the winter, and establishing herbal leys. Currently, farmers can receive between £22 per hectare per year and £58 per hectare per year, depending on the level of SFI standard they choose.

The scheme will be open to all who are currently eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). The first application window opens this year and payments will be made before the end of 2022.

LOCAL NATURE RECOVERY: A CONTINUATION OF COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP

Local Nature Recovery (LNR) is the second element of ELM, and it is focused on paying for locally targeted actions to ‘make space for nature’ within the farmed landscape and the wider countryside.

LNR will be the ‘improved and more ambitious successor’ to the CS scheme. It will pay for things like habitat creation, species protection and woodland creation. Defra wants it to reward collaboration on nature recovery projects, but we don’t know how it intends to do that yet. The scheme will be available to all rural land managers by the end of 2024. Farmers are supposed to be able to sign up to both LNR and SFI, so long as it isn’t double funding the same activity.

LANDSCAPE RECOVERY: LARGE-SCALE AMBITIONS

This is the most environmentally ambitious part of ELM and is intended to deliver long-term, large-scale ecosystem recovery projects. The scheme will be open to applications from sites of 500–5,000 hectares. Applications can be made by individual land managers as well as collaborative groups. Each project will have bespoke payment rates that are negotiated during project development.

Defra wants to pilot up to 15 Land Recovery projects between 2022 and 2024 which it hopes will deliver over 20,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat.

HOW IS DEFRA DOING?

At the OFC, George Eustice reminded the audience that the agricultural transition is an ‘evolution not a revolution’ and that he hoped he had ‘been able to articulate a clear path that we have towards our final destination’.

However, at the same time, a House of Commons committee report heavily criticised the ELM proposals for lacking detail, being based on ‘blind optimism’ and not fully quantifying the impact rural land use change will have on the UK’s food security. The proof will most likely be in the pudding.

IS IT ENOUGH?

There has clearly been a lot of activity from Defra in the past year – this blog doesn’t even touch on the new productivity and capital grants schemes – but that does not necessarily make up for the BPS income reductions that farmers are now experiencing.

It is important to remember that ELM doesn’t offer a replacement for BPS. ELM is paying farmers for managing their land in new ways – unlike BPS, there will be costs involved. To make up for that lost income, the opportunities of emerging private markets are tempting, and it is good that Defra doesn’t want to ‘crowd out’ private finance. But how exactly it will make sure of this is less clear.

One thing is certain: there is a lot of new information for land managers to get to grips with. And that’s before we’ve even touched on the Environment Act and things like Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies. It can seem quite daunting, but our advice would be to think innovatively, positively and possibly even collaboratively in order to make the most of these new funding opportunities.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Contact Molly Biddell

Savills Rural

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Could water capture solve the irrigation crisis?

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The Felixstowe Peninsular is one of the driest areas of the country, yet every year thousands of tonnes of fresh water are pumped away into the River Deben. A collaborative project set up by farmers is reclaiming the water, storing it in artificial aquifers to supply summer irrigation. It offers potential for sustainable consumption while protecting the fragile wetlands. This is just one example of how technology can provide new solutions.

The Agri-TechE event ‘Water Innovation for Agriculture’ is taking a look at the water challenge from a new perspective.

Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE , comments: “The summer water deficit for food production is well-known, but many of the plans to create a sustainable water supply focus mainly on policy and infrastructure – to reduce water use and create reservoirs.

“If summers get hotter and drier then the requirement for agricultural water is going to increase, and worryingly, as we saw last year, some of the borehole water is turning to brine. We need to look at the issues and for solutions in different ways and a multi-disciplinary approach is required.”

Kelly Hewson-Fisher, NFU (web) — Kelly Hewson-Fisher, NFU

A speaker at the event, Kelly Hewson-Fisher, National Water Resources Specialist at National Farmers’ Union, agrees: “I think collaboration’s going to be key for unlocking potential. In terms of innovation, we need to be looking at utilising water more efficiently and more effectively to ensure we can still maintain food security and food supply.”

Many crops rely on irrigation during the summer and there have been recent developments in smart water management. Such innovations include where water is delivered according to crop need, products that increase retention of water in the soil, and systems that re-use wastewater. These options will be discussed at the event by Aquagrain, Wroot Water and Tailwater Systems.

However, access to water for food cannot be guaranteed. The current abstraction licenses, which enable farmers to pump water from rivers and boreholes, are to be replaced with permits in 2024. If the water cannot be removed from the catchment sustainably – i.e. when water levels become low – then permission will be refused.

Kelly continues: “We need to be able to capture and store water better, including rainwater harvesting and by abstracting flood water and storing it in a reservoir. In 2022 Defra supported this with grant funding through its Farming Transformation Fund and that was well subscribed.

“However, if we are to implement these initiatives we need alignment between grant funding for innovation, planning permission for reservoirs and obtaining an abstraction licence if one is required. Otherwise, it won’t work.”

She gives one example of a good farmer-led project, the Felixstowe Hydrocycle, that captures freshwater destined for the sea and reutilises it back inland. “It has filled about six on-farm reservoirs. It is those types of win:win innovation that we need to explore.”

The Hydrocycle scheme uses a ‘managed aquifer recharge’ – an innovative method of water storage which uses the natural water holding capacity of the underlying strata. Surplus water is pumped into shallow lagoons or trenches where it soaks into the ground, supplementing normal winter rainfall and helping to recharge groundwater stores.

“We also need modelling to see the implications of infrastructure developments and to see the impact on different sectors of the options that are being proposed in the National and Regional Water Strategies,” Kelly continues.

“It is essential that better information from the agricultural sector is fed into those models. One ambition is to raise the water table in the Fens. The water is currently carefully managed by the internal drainage boards, who play a critical role; it is vital they are part of any suggested solution.

“It is impossible to raise the water table in just one field; it is all interlinked with neighbouring land and will have an impact on cropping and stock levels.

“Collaboration is really the key to unlocking opportunities and potential, so if we can do that in a cross-sector, multi-sector arena and forum then you would think it would have to open up the opportunities that are available to us all.”

Agri-TechE is hosting the event ‘Water Innovation for Agriculture‘ on 8^th February at Cranfield University. Speakers include: Kelly Hewson-Fisher, Daniel Johns (CEO at Water Resources East), Prof Jerry Knox and Dr Rob Simmons (both of Cranfield University) and innovators Tailwater Systems, Wroot Water and Aquagrain.

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New officer team for Fram Farmers

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Fram Farmers

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Fram Farmers, the Suffolk-based input purchasing and crop marketing co-operative, has a new chair and vice chair following its annual general meeting in November.

Wendy Houston moves from vice chairman to become chairman of the company, succeeding Suffolk farmer and haulier Andrew Read who has completed a three-year term. As well as running the family 1,100 acre arable and pig farm, she is a director of MPS Agri, the international electronic sow feeding business.

At the same time, Doug Inglis – a board member since 2020 – becomes vice chairman. A former director of the Velcourt corporate farming business, Mr Inglis now runs his own arable business and agronomy consultancy.

“I aim to ensure the co-operative continues to be best placed to serve members in navigating the challenges both arable and livestock members face, and to prosper in the years to come,” says Ms Houston.

Earlier in the year, Fram Farmers appointed Michael Muncey, former UK managing director of Bayer Crop Science and David Sheppard, former managing director of ADM Agriculture to its board, together with farmer directors Mark Williams and Frans de Boer.

“Farming is undergoing a period of unparalleled change, challenge and opportunity – the new board membership will deliver strong, critical and demanding leadership to Fram Farmers,” adds Fram Farmers chief executive Andrew Knowles.

“This will enable us to continue to evolve and strengthen our performance to members, whilst remaining faithful to the values of the cooperative, and ensure our performance is unparalleled with leading commercial agribusinesses in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

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Norfolk-based Clean-Tech Start-up WATR secure £75,000 funding through Anglia Capital Group

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Anglia Capital Group

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

After an impressive pitch to the Angel Investors from Anglia Capital Group, WATR successfully secured funding for their clean-tech start-up.

The founders of WATR came to the Angels with a clear mission for their business – to use technology to improve water conditions across the globe. Their long-term ambition is for WATR to become the early warning system for water quality globally and to have units in every country in the world by 2024.

Water is the most valuable resource on the planet. With the environment and climate at the top of many minds right now, especially with the recent COP26 summit, WATR managed to strike a chord with the group as they could clearly see the need for this innovative new product. In conjunction with their partners at New Anglia Capital, Anglia Capital Group were able to assist WATR to raise a total of £75,000 for their seed round.

“When WATR pitched to our members they were immediately impressed by the mission to improve water conditions around the world. Businesses with a focus on sustainability are increasingly seeing success in gaining early-stage funding as more of our members seek to invest in companies which are having a positive impact on the environment. We wish WATR every success for the future and look forward to seeing them go from strength to strength” Hannah Smith, Managing Director, Anglia Capital Group.

Based in one of Norfolk’s technology hubs, the Hethel Engineering Centre (run by Hethel Innovation), the team at WATR have developed a product which can provide the customer with a live time data feed to an app or dashboard so they may observe parameters such as water temperature, ORP, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity and chlorophyll amongst others.

“We are extremely excited to see WATR’s vision and product quality be recognised by investors. Their success and focus on improving and protecting our environment is incredibly inspiring and we are proud to have them as a member of our innovative community of businesses at Hethel Innovation. We can’t wait to see what is next for the team and see their growth continue.” Imogen Shipperlee, Innovation Manager, Hethel Innovation.

WATR App Screenshot

WATR are now gaining recognition across the industry and have recently been selected as double finalists in the “World changing ideas” and “On the rise categories” in the Fast Company’s 2021 awards.

“WATR has had an extremely exciting year. We made new product enhancements to WATR, added new accessories and opened a new market with Soil Monitoring. We are currently working on a number of projects with different water companies, a large environmental project in Devon, as well as working with SME’s and fisheries. We are now generating enquiries globally and the level of interest in the product in the last three months has been phenomenal. It’s fantastic that after four years of intense development that we are starting to realise our mission, to improve water conditions around the globe. As a business we are extremely committed to the region and to have investment support from local investors has enabled us to accelerate our growth.” Glyn Cotton, Co-Founder, WATR

In an exciting new development WATR have recently launched their new product TERA which enables farmers and agriculturalists to utilise the power of real-time soil condition data to improve crop conditions, reduce costs and to create more efficient farming and agricultural solutions.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.

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Are Eggs the New Bitcoin? Stable Reflect

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Stable

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

It’s no secret that food prices have surged in the past year. Supply chain issues, geopolitical tensions, disease, and more have affected inflation for several commodities – most notably eggs. According to the latest December Consumer Price Index, prices were up nearly 60% compared to a year earlier. A prolonged stint of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) last year affected the industry more than expected, tightening supplies and inflating prices. However, that trend is starting to soften.

Wholesale egg prices began to decline in late December as consumer demand retreated from its holiday levels. After peaking at $5.38 a dozen for large shell eggs, they have dropped to a combined regional average of $4.70 as of Jan. 13, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Increased supplies are affecting wholesale prices as retail prices remain at historically high levels.

The price of large, carton eggs decreased 73 cents to $3.86 per dozen on the New York Market, USDA reported in its latest weekly Egg Markets Overview. Prices paid to producers in the Midwest fell 75 cents to $3.68. The California benchmark declined 65 cents to $6.72 per dozen. Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon to find conventional eggs going for more than $10 per dozen at local New York City markets.

A mix of market factors happened all at once to get to this point. Jada Thompson, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness at the University of Arkansas, said higher feed prices, seasonal demand spikes, transportation issues, and general inflation had a hand to play, but highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as the bird flu, was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The virus, which sickens and kills poultry, spread to several commercial egg houses last year, affecting more than 42 million poultry, USDA data show. Migratory waterfowl act as hosts to the virus each year, affecting the egg, chicken, and turkey industries, usually until the warmer, summer months when the number of cases dissipate. However, 2022 was different.

“It was different because it didn’t go away,” Thompson said. While the number of birds affected slowed during the warmer months, a resurgence occurred in the fall and has continued to infect flocks in the U.S. and around the world, including severe outbreaks in Asia and Europe.

The removal of millions of layers, pullets, and breeders from the egg system significantly hampered production and tightened domestic supplies. As a result of recurrent outbreaks, U.S. egg inventories were 29% lower in the last week of December compared to the start of 2022. Add the rising costs of inflation, transportation and supply chain issues spurred by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, various rail strikes, and the holiday season, where many people are making deviled eggs or baking cakes and pies, and that translates to historically high prices, Thompson said.

The phenomenon has created a frenzy of memes on social media, with users declaring eggs a luxury item. Genevieve Roch-Decter, the chief executive officer of Grit Capital, said that eggs were the “new bitcoin” and posted a chart of skyrocketing prices on Twitter.

Although prices remain elevated at retailers, recent data show prices starting to weaken at the wholesale level as birds are replenished and more supplies come online. Whether they can come down to pre-2022 levels is anyone’s guess, Thompson said.

“It’s an unprecedented animal health event that is ongoing and everyone is adjusting to it,” she said.

As part of her research, Thompson wrote about the impact of catastrophic events on farmers, from loss of income and additional operational costs to mental health effects. Finding a positive case on the farm can be devastating, she said. At the producer level, many are asking themselves what adjustments can be made to assist with bird replenishment and what the short- and long-term price dynamics will be, Thompson said.

“The industry is trying to address this preemptively,” she said. Some are looking to buy eggs in much larger quantities as prices become more favorable, while others are biting their nails, Thompson said.

Prior to last year, the worst poultry health emergency in the U.S. was from 2014 to 2015, when there were 50 HPAI outbreaks in commercial layer chicken flocks, affecting 43 million birds. Wholesale prices surged during this period and declined sharply the following year, remaining at or below $2 per carton until 2022.

Historically, HPAI is considered a seasonal disease, but last year, it never went away. Michael Nepveux, Stable’s senior protein analyst, said most outbreaks in the U.S. happen when birds migrate in the spring, which is just around the corner.

“It looks like we have the potential for HPAI to become more of just a regular part of producers’ lives instead of a black swan event that occurs, say, once in a decade,” Nepveux said. “If producers are able to restock their flocks and keep any new outbreaks out, we may see some relief in egg prices. However, egg prices could be in for another rocky year.”

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Barclays Eagle Labs chosen to help turbocharge next generation of UK tech stars

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Barclays Eagle Labs

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Barclays Eagle Labs has been awarded a new grant to boost small and scaling tech businesses in all corners of the UK.

Estimates suggest strengthening regional tech industries could grow the UK’s digital sector by an additional £41.5 billion by 2025 and create 678,000 jobs.

The £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant builds on more than £42.2 million invested by the government to support tech start-ups and scale-ups since 2016.

Combined investment from Eagle Labs and the government will increase support for the tech sector so more than 22,000 businesses can benefit, with at least 80 per cent based outside London.

Barclays Eagle Labs has expertly delivered growth programmes, business mentoring and events to start-ups and scale-ups since 2015. Their growing network already supports businesses from Aberdeen and Belfast to Cardiff and Cumbria through 38 physical sites, as well as virtually across the country.

Together with best-in-class business support experts, Eagle Labs will create effective local networks to help tech businesses wherever they are in the country.

Eagle Labs and industry partners will provide specialist support, funded by the Digital Growth Grant, for founders from underserved communities – for example expanding access to their growth programmes for Black and female founded businesses.

The grant will fund training resources and opportunities for entrepreneurs, including a Learning Management System providing virtual training to over 10,000 businesses and training modules created for young people to inspire the next generation of UK entrepreneurs.

Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said:

We want to unlock the potential of the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups and boost tech businesses in all corners of the country.

Barclays Eagle Labs are digital industry experts and will help tens of thousands of tech firms and founders to achieve their dreams and create jobs and economic growth.

The Digital Growth Grant was awarded following an open competition and rigorous assessment process. The Barclays Eagle Labs bid represented the best value for taxpayers’ money as the full grant will be allocated to supporting the UK tech ecosystem, with Eagle Labs absorbing all operational and people costs associated with delivering the programme of activity.

It will enable Eagle Labs to launch new programmes to grow tech businesses as well as increasing access to Eagle Labs’ existing services. The funding will double the number of mentoring sessions offered to tech firms to 1,500 a year.

The independent panel assessing applications concluded Eagle Labs was uniquely positioned to deliver targeted support across the country. A bespoke regional partnership programme will ensure funding and training reflects the challenges digital businesses are facing in their area.

Amanda Allan, Director of Barclays Eagle Labs, said:

Eagle Labs’ vision is to make the UK tech sector an engine for growth and for the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a tech business

Through the Digital Growth Grant, we’re excited to double down to reach more businesses across the country with our best-in-class business growth programmes and bespoke regional support.

We have a track record of supporting over 8000 start-ups and high-growth businesses since we launched in 2015 and we’re proud that, due to our established Eagle Labs network, we can pass through all grant funds to our delivery partners and programmes, helping to maximise the impact of the grant in supporting the UK tech ecosystem.

Tech Nation will continue to deliver remaining DCMS grant funding until March 2023. The Digital Growth Grant will be awarded to Barclays Eagle Labs from April 2023 and will fund activity until March 2025.

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Veganuary: can vertical farming help to provide alternative protein?

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LettUs Grow Ltd.

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

It’s Veganuary! Where for the month of January, people are encouraged to try out or adopt a vegan diet. Since there aren’t a huge amount of seasonal fruits and vegetables to play with, we’re not sure the first month of the year is the best time to go vegan. However, this does reflect how consumers expect to be able to access any and all food at any time – and this now includes being able to eat meat, without actually eating meat. In this article, we look at the rising popularity of protein alternatives and how vertical farming technology might be able to help with the protein transition.

Whether it be to reduce their carbon footprint, make better choices for the planet, or for animal welfare reasons, many are choosing to reduce or remove meat from their diets. In doing so, there has become an increased demand for alternative protein sources. Alternative proteins can include “fake meats” sourced from plants such as soya, pea proteins or lentils, as well as from fungi, or less commonly, tissue cultures, or the consumption of insects.

Even in the past couple of years, the popularity of “fake meat” has soared, with many food manufacturers and well known restaurants or fast food chains adding meat-free options to their menus. According to a market report by Statistica, the consumption of meat vs alternative protein consumption is trending towards a 40/60 split – in favour of alternatives.

Composition of the meat alternatives market wordwide - data sourced from Statistica

But if moving away from meat consumption for environmental and ethical reasons, we must also make sure that the alternative we’re now being offered isn’t harmful in other ways. Whilst the US Beyond Meat burger claims to produce 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a beef burger, carbon emissions aren’t the only means of calculating environmental impact. We should also make sure that the methods of production aren’t playing into existing agricultural issues: such as pesticide use, water pollution, deforestation, or monocultures.

It’s widely agreed that eating more plants has health benefits for both people and the planet. If we want people to actually increase the proportion of plants in their diet, food producers should make sure we’re increasing the availability of plant proteins like legumes, rather than simply diverting existing sources away from consumption in their whole form to make meat alternatives. That is – in order to see benefits, we need consumers to replace their meat burger with a bean burger, rather than replacing beans with bean burgers.

As an emerging industry, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and vertical farming could be in a unique position to help. Since vertical farms are still in development themselves, they have the potential flexibility to increase the amount of protein alternatives we are growing and to adapt to the demands of an emerging market, whilst also bringing good sustainability credentials – such as using less space, less water and removing the need for pesticides. Below, we explore some of the ways that CEA could support the alternative protein market.

Propagation in vertical farms

Growing crops used for alternative protein in a controlled environment, such as a vertical farm or greenhouse, is largely unexplored. As one example, propagating peas within a controlled environment could be explored as a way of increasing the amount of peas grown, without diverting the supply from existing sources – whilst minimising the resources used.

It doesn’t always make sense to use vertical farming for an entire growth cycle. In the case of pea protein, the cost of growth for this relatively low value crop would be far too high, since growing to seed would take an entire year. It is sometimes more resource, space or energy efficient to use vertical farming for only part of the process. Propagation is the part of the process where CEA is likely to benefit the production of alternative proteins most.

Propagating using aeroponics can often produce larger and healthier crops which could be more likely to survive transplanting into soil. LettUs Grow are currently exploring this with crops such as tomatoes and tree whips, but there is the potential that plants used as alternative proteins, such as soy, pea, amaranth, chickpea, rapeseed, water lentil and lupin might also benefit from being propagated in this way.

Biofortification

There are some health concerns surrounding fake meat – especially when they’re replacing meat as part of a vegan diet. These processed foods can often be perceived as “healthier” simply because they are associated with being “plant-based.” But though they are often higher in salt, studies have found that typically they have a higher nutrient performance, or there is no difference, to the foods they are replacing – it all depends on what is being added.

However, there are specific micronutrients that are more difficult to get using plant based ingredients, such as iron. CEA offers the opportunity to grow biofortified foods, in order to provide specific nutrients and make these vitamins or minerals more easily digestible. This could be done many ways, including through genetics, with breeding (though this can take an extraordinarily long time) or through gene editing, to alter the nutritional composition of the crops.

At LettUs Grow we have also begun work to see how we can impact the nutritional composition of crops by optimising the environmental conditions: using aeroponic irrigation systems to deliver specific nutrients to the crops during the growth stage, in order to increase the concentration of the specified nutrients or vitamins in foods. In doing so, it might be possible to increase the nutritional value of alternative proteins and deliver vitamins or minerals that might otherwise only be found in animal products.

Circular thinking

Another concept that is under explored is how we can join together different production methods to create a more circular food system. This can help to reduce physical waste and loss of resources, such as energy, in our supply chains.

Since both the alternative protein and vertical farming sectors are in their infancy, there could be an opportunity for circular thinking principles to be included in earlier design phases. For example, this could allow systems such as insect farms, aquaculture and plant growth to be linked to make use of waste streams from one process in another.

The future of protein alternatives

Our food system is broken. The main problem with introducing alternative foods into our supply chains, is that this doesn’t automatically fix any systematic issues. If we want to offer these alternatives, we must make sure that the processes creating them are not damaging. Only by looking at our food systems as a whole will we create real, lasting change. Otherwise we risk replacing one problem with another. This will include introducing alternative proteins, but also making improvements to the animal farming industry.

New agricultural technologies, such as vertical farming and aeroponics, can certainly help to support the growth of alternative proteins, but it cannot be considered a quick fix to the deeply embedded and nuanced issues surrounding eating meat. Yet it is exciting to begin to imagine how CEA might be able to support and make a reality of innovative solutions to our food system issues – we’re just at the beginning!

If you want to chat about how vertical farming could work with and impact different industries, then reach out to our business development team, who would love to hear from you. Get in touch here.

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Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet

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The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Scientists are aiming to revolutionise British diets by slipping more UK-grown beans into our daily bread.

See Professor Julie Lovegrove introducing the project here: Raising the Pulse with Professor Julie Lovegrove | University of Reading – YouTube

Researchers and chefs at the University of Reading aim to encourage British consumers and food producers to switch to bread containing faba beans (commonly known as broad beans), making it healthier and less damaging to the environment.

The £2 million, three-year, publicly-funded ‘Raising the Pulse’ project has officially begun and is announced today (18 January 2023) in the Nutrition Bulletin journal.

Five teams of researchers within the University of Reading, along with members of the public, farmers, industry, and policy makers, are now working together to bring about one of the biggest changes to UK food in generations.

This is by increasing pulses in the UK diet, particularly faba beans, due to their favourable growing conditions in the UK and the sustainable nutritional enhancement they provide.

Despite being an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous imported soya bean, used currently in bread as an improver, the great majority of faba beans grown in the UK go to animal feed at present.

Researchers are optimising the sustainability and nutritional quality of beans grown here, with a view to encouraging farmers to switch some wheat producing land to faba bean for human consumption.

Faba beans are particularly high in easily digested protein, fibre, and iron, nutrients that can be low in UK diets. But the majority of people are not used to cooking and eating faba beans, which poses a major challenge.

Professor Julie Lovegrove is leading the ‘Raising the Pulse’ research programme. She said: “We had to think laterally: What do most people eat and how can we improve their nutrition without them having to change their diets? The obvious answer is bread!

“96% of people in the UK eat bread, and 90% of that is white bread, which in most cases contains soya. We’ve already performed some experiments and found that faba bean flour can directly replace imported soya flour and some of the wheat flour, which is low in nutrients. We can not only grow the faba beans here, but also produce and test the faba bean-rich bread, with improved nutritional quality.”

‘Raising the Pulse’ is a multidisciplinary programme of research, funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, as part of their ‘Transforming UK Food Systems’ initiative.

As well as consulting and working with members of disadvantaged communities, there will be studies using our novel foods at the University of Reading’s students halls of residence and catering outlets.

This links ‘Raising the Pulse’ with Matt Tebbit, who runs the University’s catering service and leads the University’s ‘Menus for Change’ research programme. He said: “Students will be asked to rate products made or enriched with faba bean, such as bread, flat bread, and hummus. They will be asked questions about how full they felt, for how long and their liking of the foods. It is hoped that faba bean will improve satiety, as well as providing enhanced nutritional benefits in products that are enjoyable to eat.”

Before there are products to be tested, the beans must be grown, harvested and milled. ‘Raising the Pulse’ seeks to improve these stages as well. Researchers will be choosing or breeding varieties that are healthful as well as high yielding, working with the soil to improve yield via nitrogen fixing bacteria, mitigating environmental impacts of farming faba beans, planning for the changing climate, and more.

Watch this space…

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Gardin and Enza Zaden strengthen relationship

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Gardin Ltd

The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Understanding how crops respond to environmental stress is crucial to developing high performance varieties and growing crops profitably. No one knows this better than at Enza Zaden, who constantly strive to produce resilient varieties at scale for growers all over the world.

Gardin is thrilled to announce that, after the completion of a successful trial in September 2022, Enza Zaden has the intention to expand our collaboration across their facilities in the Netherlands and Spain in 2023.

Dr. Chiara Volpi, senior researcher at Enza, said:

“We tested the Gardin technology on some of our breeding lines. Being able to see how the plants respond to stress in real-time has been very valuable for understanding their potential. Not only this will make us aware of stress well before it becomes visible; it will also provide an objective and quantifiable way of understanding the effect of variability in the environment and of differences between varieties, as well as the efficacy of treatments. The Gardin platform measured crucial parameters of plant performance completely autonomously and directly where the plants grew without the need for any intervention from our team. This, together with the analytics capabilities provided by the Gardin team, enabled us to gather important data from our research experiments aimed at accelerating variety development”

Expanding our collaboration offers great potential for both organisations. Dr. Fabrizio Ticchiarelli-Marjot, Gardin’s lead biologist commented:

“Chiara and Duy are world class scientists, and working with them and Enza Zaden has been an absolute delight. We were able to observe unforeseen patterns in the way some vegetable crop varieties responded to abiotic stress and we hope these insights will aid Enza Zaden in bringing these crops to market as soon as possible. What excites me the most about next year is that we will be expanding the range of species we will work on together, helping as many people at Enza Zaden as possible. This will not only accelerate their pipelines, but also ensure Gardin’s predictive analytics is trained from the very start on some of the most innovative crops that will reach the market. This will put us in a great place to serve as many commercial growers as possible, all over the world.”

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This story has been submitted by an Agri-TechE member.

Gardin Ltd

Member News

Promoting innovation in water management for agriculture

Agri-TechE Article

Agri-TechE

Agriculture in Eastern England is set to lose access to approximately 17% of water currently used for spray irrigation at the peak of summer*, unless a smarter approach to water management in agriculture is adopted.

Agriculture irrigation accounts for 70% of water use worldwide and over 40% in many OECD countries. Predictions for the UK suggest that there will be a shortfall in water available for agriculture (and everyone else) unless a multidisciplinary approach is taken

Availability of water – enough of it, and in the right place, at the right time – is already a major limiting factor to an increasing number of farm businesses across the UK and internationally. And the problem is set to get worse.

In Eastern England alone, for example, agriculture is set to lose access to approximately 17 % of water currently used for spray irrigation at the peak of summer, unless a smarter approach to water management is adopted.

Globally, crop irrigation accounts for 70 % of water use worldwide and over 40 % in many OECD countries.

Building resilience to drought and flood – sometimes in the same field – are already priorities for many businesses and researchers to help mitigate the pressing challenges. Predictions for the UK suggest there will be a significant shortfall in the water available for everyone – not least agriculture – unless a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach is adopted, where technology, behavourial change and policy work together.

Water Innovation for Agriculture – 8th February 2023, Cranfield University, MK43 0AL

Agri-TechE is convening an afternoon of discussion and learning with those developing cutting-edge technologies to manage water more effectively. We’ll be considering approaches such as drip irrigation, de-salinisation and novel materials and approaches to increase the water-holding capacity of soils (or other growing medium).

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This year’s REAP Conference explored how the meeting of real and virtual worlds is creating a new generation of technologies that are ‘making sense of agriculture’ and can provide the intelligence needed to take the best action on-farm. In the conference report we aim to capture some of the discussion from this vibrant event.

There are so many variables in agriculture, with profitability impacted by everything from the nutrients in the soil through to extreme weather events. Some factors are controllable, many are not, but informed decisions can mitigate risk – and the digital world is facilitating this.

The role of advanced sensors and tools for modelling, forecasting and scenario planning – including digital twins – were all discussed by farmers, technologists, researchers and others with a passion for turning challenges into opportunities for the agri-food industry.

This report aims to capture some of the highlights.

Read and download the report now!

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Shorter wheat gene offers benefits over Green Revolution varieties

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Agri-TechE

A new mechanism that can reduce the height in wheat, without the disadvantages of the genes currently used, has been discovered by an international team of researchers, led by the John Innes Centre (JIC).

Dr Philippa BorrillGroup Leader Designing Future Wheat, Genes in the Environment — Dr Philippa Borrill, Group Leader, Designing Future Wheat, Genes in the Environment

Reduced height genes have increased global wheat yields because the plant puts more investment into the grains rather than into the stems, and the shorter stems also improve standing ability. The disadvantage is that if these varieties are planted deeper to access moisture in water limited environments, they can fail to reach the surface of the soil.

The newly discovered Rht13 dwarf gene overcomes this problem. The gene acts in tissues higher up in the wheat stem, so, the dwarfing mechanism only takes effect once the seedling has fully emerged. This gives farmers a significant advantage when planting deeper in dry conditions.

Other benefits of the new semi-dwarfing gene may include stiffer stems, making it better able to withstand stormier weather.

Perfect genetic marker for breeders

Varieties of wheat with the Rht13 gene could be rapidly bred into wheat varieties and give breeders a perfect genetic marker to allow them to breed more climate-resilient wheat according to group leader Dr Philippa Borrill corresponding author of the study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The discovery of the Rht13 dwarfing gene was made possible by recent advances in wheat genomic research, principally the publication in 2020 of the Pan Genome, an atlas of 15 wheat genomes collected from around the world.

Earlier studies had identified the Rht13 locus – the region of DNA – as located on chromosome 7B on the wheat genome but the underlying gene had not been identified.

Experiments testing the effects of the gene in a range of transgenic wheat plants confirmed that the Rht13 variation represents a new class of reduced height gene – more commonly associated with disease resistance as opposed to widely used Green Revolution genes (Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b)) which are associated with hormones and therefore affect overall growth.

Drought resilience improved by new wheat gene

“This is an exciting discovery because it opens a new way to use these autoactive NB-LRR genes in breeding in agriculture,” explains Dr Borrill. “In dry environments, the alternative reduced height gene will allow farmers to sow seeds at depth – and not have to gamble on the seedlings emerging. We think the stiffer stems could result in less lodging – where stems fall over – and the upregulation of a pathogen related dwarfing gene may help to enhance resistance response to certain pathogens.”

Next steps

The next step for this research will be to test how this gene works in diverse agronomic environments from the UK to Australia. The research team are also investigating how the mechanism works and are exploring the hypothesis that it may be down to molecular restrictions on the cell wall preventing elongation.

The paper ‘An autoactive NB-LRR wheat gene causes Rht13 dwarfism in wheat’ appears in PNAS.

The paper

An autoactive NB-LRR gene causes Rht13 dwarfism in wheat – Philippa Borrill, Rohit Mago, Tianyuan Xu, Wolfgang Spielmeyer – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) November 23, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209875119

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Next steps

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