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REAP Conference 2014: Realising our Economic and Agricultural Potential
Wednesday 12th November 2014 @ 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


Agri-tech: Adding value to the food chain
By 2030 the UK will need the equivalent of 7 million more hectares of land to support our growing population. It is estimated that with ‘smart use’ of land and technology we could release more benefit from existing land resources. We now have a perfect storm where there is a clearly articulated market need for innovation and an appetite for change.
For farmers and growers ‘total factor productivity’ is a key consideration for the uptake of new approaches and disruptive technologies and this requires a sound evidence base. Agri-Tech East proposes that the East of England takes a lead in identifying what ‘smart use’ means in the real world.
Take a look through the report from REAP for an overview of the discussions, key points and next steps. Click the cover to download the full pdf.
Programme highlights
Programme
10:00 Coffee and networking
10:30 Welcome and introduction
Julius Joel, MD of Greens of Soham and Chair of Agri-Tech East Stakeholder Group.
10:40 Introduction to Agri-Tech East
Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-Tech East.
10:50 Session 1: The growing environment and needs of producers – Producer Panel
Chaired by Prof Chris Gilligan, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.
Tony Bambridge, MD of B&C Farming
Richard Hirst, Chairman of Anglian Pea Growers
Dr Ed Moorhouse, Group Technical Director of G’s Fresh.
Session 2: Increasing productivity with evidence-based research
Chaired by Colin MacEwan, Head of the British Beet Research Organisation.
11:30 Science into agricultural practice
Helen Ferrier, Chief Science and Regulatory Affairs Adviser for the NFU.
11:50 How science can have a real impact within the agricultural industry
Bill Clark, Commercial and Technical Director for NIAB.
12:10 Lunch
Session 3: The impact of consumer demand and sustainability on the industry
Chaired by Dale Sanders, Director of John Innes Centre.
13:15 From seed through to consumer – challenges to our food system
Ian Noble, Senior Director at PepsiCo and member of the UK Agri-Tech Leadership Council.
14:00 Helping growers enhance sustainable intensification
Jeremy Macklin, Director of Technology and Innovation at Hutchinsons.
14:20 The role of food manufacturers supporting knowledge transfer and change in the field
Richard Burkinshaw, European Environmental Strategy Manager at Kellogg’s.
14:40 Panel session for questions from delegates
Session 4: Creating opportunities for building value in agri-tech
15:00 An introduction to the business plan competition and outlining the business opportunity for entrepreneurs
William Kendall, organic farmer, investor and entrepreneur
15:15 Tea break
Session 5: The role of agri-tech in building resilience and improving economic performance
15:45 Start-up Showcase
Chaired by Calum Murray, Programme Leader, Agri-Food at Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board).
16:45 Closing Remarks
Julius Joel, MD of Greens of Soham and Chair of Agri-Tech East Stakeholder Group.
17:00 Networking
18:00 Event close
Speakers
The companies which presented in the 2014 Start-Up Showcase
Make sure to take a look through the Start-Up Showcase Hall of Fame to see how our Start-Up Showcase companies have grown and prospered.

GrainSense
GrainSense is a UK/Finnish UK optical device spin-out company, with a patent-protected working prototype of the world’s first hand-held seed analysis tool. This measures the protein, moisture, oil and carbohydrate content of cereals and other crops in the field. These are key determinants of harvest value and processing cost. For instance, a 1% change in protein can affect wheat price by £20+ a tonne.
The device is battery powered, requires only a few grains and takes just seconds for each measurement, with no preparation needed. This allows farmers, seed producers and plant breeders to rapidly measure for the first time in the field the key parameters that drive the value of their crops.
GrainSense is a disruptive technology with no direct competition and a market of €200m pa in the EU alone. Investment is required to bring the product rapidly to market, establish EU sales channels, and take GrainSense to cash-flow positive.

Agrisolum
Agrisolum is an agritech start-up looking to enable technology and financial inclusion to farmers, assist them in achieving sustainable food production and support rural empowerment globally.
On technology front, Agrisolum released a cloud-based platform “Agvesto” that provides real time insights to farmers about soil, water and climatic conditions. Platform provides application services such as rainwater harvesting recommendation model using localised rainfall data, Arctic climate risk insights and forecasting model. Agrisolum is collaborating with NASA, US to bring real time precipitation and soil moisture insights derived from NASA’s satellite data to farmers in UK and worldwide.
On financial front, Agrisolum will enable credit to farm businesses in 2015 using a marketplace lending platform via its partner, a platform where ‘sustainable’ and ‘social’ friendly investors can lend to farmers that enable them to build sustainable farm businesses, invest in renewable projects and empower rural livelihoods.
Update: as of mid-2015, Agrisolum have rebranded as Agvesto.

AGRIinsight
PROBLEM
The population of Africa is predicted to more than double to nearly 2 billion by 2050. Agribusiness in the region will need to significantly expand and become more efficient to meet these needs, yet alone take advantage of the foreign trade opportunities that are becoming available to it.
NEED
One of the biggest challenges that trading in Africa faces is ensuring that potential external or internal trading partners have access to commercially-relevant information and data in an easily understandable format and centralised location. Poor or incomplete information slows or even completely halts trade and investment opportunities.
SOLUTION
AGRIinsight has been developed as an online tool to bring together multiple sources of (public and private) information, translate them into rich, relevant and visual representations on a fully customizable basis. This tool will enable customers, producers, investors, suppliers, networks, planners and other key stakeholders in the region’s food and agricultural production chain to understand complex data and make informed decisions regarding their activities in a highly-fragmented industry.

Arlabion
Arlabion is an agri-tech startup developing new generation agrochemicals for sustainable crop management.
Arlabion seed treatment products act as both fungal inhibitors and plant activators at the same time.They have been proven to be effective on wheat, corn, peppers and tomatoes. Being synthetic chemicals, they are non-toxic and fully biodegradable.
New generation agrochemicals are applied to seeds in extremely low levels of concentration: less than 1 gram per hectare. By stimulating plant biochemical processes, Arlabion compounds enhance plant resistance to pathogens and inhibit the formation of fungal cells. In higher concentrations the compounds can act as a fungicide which will directly act on pathogens.
Laboratory trials and field experiments have been proven to control serious crop diseases such as Root Rot. The current laboratory tests on Septoria control are also looking very promising.
Arlabion agrochemicals can completely replace toxic fungicides and become a new industry standard.
Update: read more about Arlabion here and visit the member page here.

KisanHub
KisanHub is a cloud-based software platform which brings together public and private data to help farmers and agri-food companies take informed decisions about their day-to-day operations and markets. This data-driven decision-making platform will reduce input costs, boost returns, improve farm business efficiency and make farming more sustainable.
Gallery and feedback
“The speakers were of excellent calibre, and the venue choice was inspired!”


“All the presentations were very interesting. The start-up presentations show there are some interesting things going on.”
“I was particularly interested in hearing directly from the farmers what issues they face and what they need. Also hearing from the food industry what they think and what they need, and learning about the core key message on what are the gaps in the system of bringing technology to the market/farmers.”


“Ian Noble’s talk was particularly good, but ALL the speakers were of high quality.”
“I got to speak to a few different farmers with different views, which was very interesting, and I enjoyed all of the speakers – I was particularly interested to hear about the Kellogg’s farmers groups.”


“I found the conference interesting and informative on a personal level. On a practical level, it provided a greater insight into how best to support start-ups and to service their needs.”
“It delivered more than I’d hoped – presenting an absolute goldmine of opportunities.”


“I met a lot of useful contacts and the content of the presentations/panel discussions was very informative.”
Now read the report: Agri-Tech: Adding value to the food chain
We now have a perfect storm where there is a clearly articulated market need for innovation within the agri- food industry and an appetite for change. This report looks at the requirements for new technology by all stages of the value chain and identifies different models for supporting innovation in the industry. It provides an evaluation of the current situation and proposes ways forward.
Agri-Tech East is already making a significant impact on the agri-food industry through its pragmatic approach and this report aims to support the next phase – fast-tracking innovation from lab to field.