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REAP Conference 2015: Resilience Through Innovation
Wednesday 11th November 2015 @ 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
– Albert Einstein
A challenge in one industry creates a business opportunity for another. Within the agri-food reducing risk is a key driver. New thinking that improves resilience to adversity has the potential to increase profitability in this complex industry.
At the REAP conference we invited a number of leading producers, all innovators in their own disciplines, to articulate the challenges they face in delivering top quality products to leading retailers, processors and suppliers.
Managing uncertainty, forecasting and prediction, precision delivery to reduce inputs, these are all areas that are also familiar to the technologists that are joining the discussion, bringing insights from their experiences in other markets.
Programme highlights
Programme
10:00 Coffee and networking
10:30 Welcome and introduction
Julius Joel, MD, Greens of Soham and Chair, Agri-Tech East Stakeholder Group.
10:40 Introduction to Agri-Tech East
Dr Belinda Clarke, Director, Agri-Tech East.
10.50 Producers Panel
Sponsored by Savills
Tim Whitehead, Farm Manager, Vine Farm, Royston
Brian Barker, EJ Barker and Sons, HGCA Monitor Farm, Stowmarket
Andrew Francis, Farms Manager, Elveden Estate
12.00 Lunch
13.15 The role of new innovations in agriculture; the retailer perspective
Sue Lockhart, Head of Agriculture, Sainsbury’s
13.40 A Vision for Plant and Animal Health; Harnessing the Internet of Agri-Things
Prof. Jackie Hunter, Chief Executive, BBSRC
14.00 Converging Technologies For Agriculture
Matthew Smith / Drew Purves, Computational Ecology Dept, Microsoft Research
Vladimir Stoiljkovic, Business Development Manager, Satellite Applications Catapult
Simon Cassia, CEO, Plextek Ltd
Cliff Dive, VP, Business Development, Argon Design
15.00 Tea break
15.30 Start-up Showcase
Sponsored by Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise
16.30 Keynote address
Meurig Raymond, President, National Farmers’ Union
17.00 Evening Reception
18.00 Event close and depart
Speakers
Welcome
Producers' Panel
The role of new innovations in agriculture; the retailer perspective
A Vision for Plant and Animal Health; Harnessing the Internet of Agri-Things
Converging Technologies For Agriculture
Start-Up Showcase
Keynote address: Agri-tech: the future of farming?
Closing remarks
A big thanks to our sponsors...
Poster session:
“Improve access to the latest research findings” is a request that we often hear from the farming community, so along with a fantastic line-up of speakers at this year’s REAP conference Agri-Tech East is also featuring a poster session from a cross section of the region’s research institutes to give a flavour of the work currently under way.
Posters are what the academics use at conferences to encapsulate a lot of information on a single sheet of paper.
Click a poster below to view it larger.
Gallery and feedback
Click an image to view it larger and see the caption.