Well, January 2026 hit the ground running. Hard to believe the 19th Oxford Farming Conference was only a few weeks ago - and with it the announcement of the £30m Farmer Collaboration Fund and the creation of the Farming and Food Partnership Board. A welcome signal of the direction of travel, but hardly a new idea for many of you, which we were reminded of during our visit to Salle Estate this month, where three neighbouring farms - the "OG farmer cluster" - have been walking the talk by sharing data, experience and tech adoption long before it became a policy headline.
Also on the policy front, Belinda Clarke gave evidence to the Science, Technology and Innovation Select Committee on innovation in global food security, and we contributed to Department for Business and Trade’s deep dive into regulatory barriers to agri‑tech adoption, where our Back to the Future report helped frame the discussion - thank you to everyone who fed into it, it's landing where we hoped!
Across the sector, conversations have ranged from sustainable feedstock and regenerative practices at Future Biogas, to the agri‑tech underpinning racecourse turf and soil management. And we were pleased to see so many of you at CropTec - co‑located with LAMMA and the Low Carbon Agriculture Show for the first time - which brought a constant stream of visitors, plenty of new conversations and the debut of our spinny wheel of fortune.
If you missed our 'Make the Most of Membership' webinar, the recording is available online for members wanting to max out their Agri‑TechE benefits and for non‑members (seriously, you still haven't joined us?!) to find out what we're all about.
Early outcomes from the ARISE project are also coming through, with collaborations forming after the Brazil delegation visit and planning underway for the closing Cambridge summit in March.
A fast, full start to 2026 - and a reminder that agri‑tech is moving quickly both on the ground and in the policy space. Plenty more to come! | 
