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REAP Conference 2018: Agri-Tech For A Productive Future

Name: REAP Conference 2018: Agri-Tech For A Productive Future
Start: 2018-11-07T09:30:00+00:00
End: 2018-11-07T17:30:00+00:00
Location: Conference Centre

Wednesday 7th November 2018 @ 9:30 am - 5:30 pm

What is the future we want for agriculture and how can innovation help deliver it?

ABOUT

Is competitive, sustainable food production where agri-tech can make the most impact?

Or should we concentrate our resources on land use for something we can’t buy cheaper elsewhere? High value crops to support a bio-economy? Novel forms of food production? Enhanced ecosystem services?

Agri-Tech East’s fifth REAP conference comes at a time of unprecedented change, uncertainty and challenge for the industry.

We’ll be asking a number of technical experts with different perspectives what they think the future agri-food industry could look like and we will explore the exciting ideas and innovations that will take us there.

Programme highlights

Hear why you should come to REAP from previous attendees

Download the 2018 REAP report here.

REAP ARTICLES

SPEAKERS

Agri-Tech for a Productive Future - Speakers

Welcome and Introduction

Richard Anscombe

Chief Executive Officer of FramFarmers, and Chair, Agri-Tech East Stakeholder Group

Richard is chief executive of FramFarmers; over the last ten years he has led the development of the organisation to become the UK’s leading farmer-owned cooperative for purchasing and grain marketing.

A firm believer in the use of technology to meet the challenges of the industry, he identifies sensor technology, robotics and advances in weather prediction as examples of where our sector will continue its technological evolution.

Agri-tech offers new futures

Chair: Dr Susannah Bolton

Knowledge Exchange Director, AHDB

Susannah is responsible for managing AHDB’s Cereals and Oilseed division’s portfolio of R&D projects and associated knowledge transfer activities, including the production and publication of the recommended lists of crop varieties.

Dr Zhenling Cui

China Agricultural University, Winner, Norman Borlaug Award

Zhenling Cui is internationally recognized for his scientific work in improving soil health and increasing crop production through innovative fertilizer management strategies. His work in China has led to improved nitrogen efficiency, resulting in higher maize and wheat yields and less soil degradation and water pollution.

Cui began his research in 2000, and has since published numerous papers in the journal Nature over the years. Through 269 on-farm experiments, Cui’s system significantly reduced nitrogen fertilizer application by as much as 60 percent for wheat and 40 percent for corn. This system was further refined to take into account the density and type of crop with a yield increase of 20 percent for wheat. Cui estimated that in the past 10 years, the system has been applied to a cumulative 80 million acres of China farmland, greatly reducing soil degradation and water pollution.

This work led to Dr Cui receiving in 2017 the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.

Prof Gerard Parr MBE

Head, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia

Gerard is a highly-regarded academic who has attracted several million pounds of research funding over his career and advised governments on the allocation of funding to large-scale projects worth more than £2.5 billion. A significant amount of his funding has been from companies in the ICT sector and UK Research Councils.

Gerard is driving force in the East of England Smart Emerging Technologies Institute (EoE SETI), which aims to design and implement a number of high-speed digital test beds to support innovation in AI, imaging, genomics, robotics and smart sensors for the agrifood industry.

Start-Up Showcase

Chair: Nicole Sadd

Executive Director, Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise

Nicole is Executive Director of Rothamstead Centre for Research and Enterprise; the hub promotes collaboration and innovation by partnering with commercial agricultural technology businesses to open up the research process.

Debate: “This house believes supporting land-use for competitive sustainable UK food production should be the priority for agri-tech innovations”

Chair: Mark Suthern

Head of Agriculture, Barclays

Mark is Managing Director – National Head of Agriculture for Barclays Bank where he leads a team of 200 colleagues within the UK focused entirely on Farming, Landed Estates, Agri-Tech and Energy & Environment

Mark has been on secondment to India where he was impressed by the collaborative approach to problem solving. He also offers insights from South Africa where smart irrigation, soil science and cover crops are rigorously deployed to intensive production sustainably and the Netherlands, which invests heavily in agri-tech.

He believes the resilience and innovation of UK farmers should not be underestimated and sees greater transparency in the supply chain, robotics to remove dependence on cheap labour and greater use of data as key enablers.

Dr Dave Hughes

Head of Global Technology Scouting, Syngenta

As Global Head of Technology Scouting for Syngenta, Dave is responsible for seeking out strategic relationships with universities and other companies around the globe in order to collaborate and co-develop new technologies for use in agriculture.

This multidisciplinary approach is reflected in the collaboration portfolio, which encompasses chemistry, synthetic biology, AI, robotics as well as genomics and engineering.

He believes that greater understanding of fundamental biology is creating many opportunities for improving the sustainable production of food. Of particular interest is a new class of biocontrol agent based on RNA which can cause the pest to ‘self destruct’ by dialling down production of a protein of choice in the pest in a highly specific way.

Dave comments that a key challenge for the UK is how to support productivity of agriculture whilst ensuring the quality and safety of our food is maintained and the environmental impact of food production is reduced. He believes this is achievable, but that the best state-of-the-art technology will need to be embraced to succeed. It is vital that decisions impacting the UK’s ability to feed itself are based on sound scientific evidence, not as a reaction to a few strong voices.

Stuart Knight

Deputy Director, NIAB

Stuart Knight is the Deputy Director of NIAB in Cambridge and has over 25 years of experience as a research agronomist.

Stuart’s main interest is combinable crop husbandry and its impacts on crop performance (yield, quality, resource efficiency and profitability), including: management of soil and fertiliser nutrients; monitoring and control of fungal diseases; evaluation of crop protection chemicals; managing within-field variation; and decision support.

Stuart is a member of the Sustainable Intensification Research Network advisory board and was leader of Project 1 of the Defra and Welsh Government funded Sustainable Intensification Research Platform (SIP), looking at the impact of farming systems and management practices on the economic and environmental performance of farms.

Claire Domoney

Head, Metabolic Biology Department, John Innes Centre

Claire works on the molecular and genetic control of seed traits in pea using mutant populations and natural germplasm to provide novel genetic variation.

Her research is linked to understanding the impact of seed composition on human health, e.g. the digestibility of pea protein and increasing resistant starch, while determining the effects on plant growth, yield and pest tolerance.

Claire’s research also investigates the regulation of processes associated with senescence, specifically the loss of chlorophyll from seeds.

Claire comments that we need to consider food production, protection of the environment and human health in the same package. We have moved in a very short space of time from food shortage to considering food as a killer and a promoter of disease. Her research is showing the potential of resistant starch and improved protein profiles to deliver novel and healthier food products – the former to tackle obesity and Type 2 diabetes, the latter to provide novel and nutritious foods. We need to connect the production of healthy food with maintaining a healthy countryside and a healthy population.

Tony Bambridge

Managing Director, B&C Farming, and NFU Norfolk Chairman

Tony Bambridge is in full day-to-day control of B&C Farming and is the NFU County Chair for Norfolk. He is a Member of the Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee at the Potato Council and has won awards for his potato farming.

Tony argues that the biggest threat to food production in the UK is trade agreements. If, for example, countries with lower welfare standards and labour costs dump their chicken on the UK market this would damage the home market for both wheat and chicken.

On the positive side he believes that farmers are producing products that the market wants. If input costs were more competitively priced and technology used to increase efficiency then there is considerable scope to improve productivity.

Andrew Spicer

CEO, Algenuity

Andrew leads Algenuity, a global leader in algal biotechnology that is developing innovative solutions and technologies.

He also sits on several Advisory boards related to microalgal biotechnology and has provided consultancy for Proctor & Gamble and Novozymes.

William Cracroft-Eley

Lincolnshire farmer and Chairman, Terravesta

William established Terravesta in 2012 to deliver a secure and reliable national contract-based supply chain and develop the market for Miscanthus (elephant grass) as the UK’s number one energy crop.

Since planting Miscanthus at home in 2006 and realising its excellent potential as a highly profitable and high yielding perennial crop, William has made it his mission to bring order and transparency to Miscanthus supply.

Miscanthus grows over three metres tall and has the potential to yield 12-17 tonnes per hectare annually. It is planted once with a life span of over 20 years, it thrives on lower-grade, marginal land and it offers farmers a secure long-term income.

William comments that the environmental benefits of the crop are well documented: it can sequester carbon into the earth, which helps to alleviate CO2 pollution, it improves soil health and it encourages on-farm biodiversity.

Guy Poppy

Professor of Ecology, Centre for Biological Sciences University of Southampton, and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Food Standards Agency

Guy is Chief Scientific Adviser to the Food Standards Agency (UK Govt) and a Professor of Ecology in the Centre for Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton. As Chief Scientific Adviser to the FSA, Guy is responsible for the integrity of the processes used to source scientific evidence and ensure expert scientific advice is available to the agency, as well as representing the agency in the community of departmental Chief Scientific Advisers and the wider scientific community, and championing science within the agency through developing its scientists’ expertise.

Guy’s research is on global food security where he has led major research programmes on sustainably producing and protecting crops, and more recently the safety and standards of food. He has published more than 100 research papers, many of which have influenced policy or scientific thinking across the world, such as his early work on the risk assessment of GM crops.

Ande Gregson

Founder and Director, Green Lab

Ande is the founder of Green Lab, an open innovation lab and ecosystem for individuals and organisations to design sustainable solutions to complex urban food, water and waste challenges. Encouraging creativity, collaboration, experimentation and play, it incubates ideas that make food systems more productive and resilient, and that can put more natural and healthy food on our tables.

Closing remarks

Dr Belinda Clarke

Director, Agri-Tech East

Under Belinda’s direction the membership of Agri-Tech East has grown to encompass businesses at every stage of the agrifood value chain and representatives from the leading academic and research organisations. Its international profile is growing and so is its influence with policymakers.

Originally trained as a plant scientist, Belinda is a Nuffield Scholar, an Associate of The Royal Agricultural Societies, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Chartered Biologist, a council member of the UKRI-BBSRC Council and a trustee of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association.

PROGRAMME

Programme

08.30 Farmer Breakfast session – Engaging in the R&D Agenda (by invitation only)

Sponsored by Savills

09.30 Registration, Coffee and Networking

10.00 Growing the agri-tech innovation ecosystem

Welcome and introduction

Richard Anscombe, Chief Executive Officer of FramFarmers and Chair, Agri-Tech East Stakeholder Group

10.20 Agri-tech offers new futures

Sponsored by AHDB

Chair: Dr Susannah Bolton, Knowledge Exchange Director, AHDB

Decision-support systems and high speed computing infrastructures are two of the technologies that have the potential to increase productivity and shape the future of farming. Two exciting field-trials are discussed by:

Dr Zhenling Cui, China Agricultural University, Winner, Norman Borlaug Award

Prof Gerard Parr MBE, Head, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia

11.30 Emerging Agri-Tech

Sponsored by BBSRC/UKRI

Chair: Kiryon Skippen, Hutchinsons

Speakers from leading universities and research institutes give lightning presentations about their research including: increasing efficiency of photosynthesis, how soil indicators can help inform land management decisions, and how radar data reveals new insights about crop growth.

12.30 Accelerating innovation

Sponsored by BASF

A hackathon brings together programmers from different disciplines with specialists offering deep-rooted industry knowledge. Agri-Tech East hosted its first hackathon this year and the outcomes in 48 hours were remarkable. Participants will discuss the learning points.

Paul Hughes, Director of Enterprise Support, Allia

Aaron Croucher, hackathon technical advisor

Charles Gentry, overall hackathon winning team

Richard Corden, Business Development Manager (Agricultural Solutions), BASF

12.45 Lunch

An opportunity to look around the technical exhibition and to network.

14.15 Start-Up Showcase

Sponsored by Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise

Chair: Nicole Sadd, Executive Director, RoCRE

Introducing some of the UK’s leading new agri-tech start-ups looking for investment, partnership, collaboration or industry insights.

15.30 Tea

16.15 Debate:

“This house believes supporting land-use for competitive sustainable UK food production should be the priority for agri-tech innovations”

Chair: Mark Suthern, Head of Agriculture, Barclays

For years the price paid for food has been disconnected from the cost of production; now, as the regulatory environment shifts, agriculture will be exposed to uncertain market forces. What future do we want for farming? Is food security and the supply of high quality, nutritional food incompatible with the demand for cheap food? Does higher productivity always mean compromising the environment or can agri-tech help achieve both? Should farmers go high-tech and automate to compete or instead diversify and produce premium products for the bioeconomy?

This is a chance to hear the views of diverse industry experts:

For:

Dr Dave Hughes, Head of Global Technology Scouting, Syngenta

Stuart Knight, Deputy Director, NIAB

Prof. Claire Domoney, Head, Metabolic Biology Department, John Innes Centre

Tony Bambridge, Managing Director, B&C Farming, former NFU Norfolk Chairman

Against:

Andrew Spicer, CEO, Algenuity

William Cracroft-Eley, Lincolnshire farmer and Chairman, Terravesta

Guy Poppy, University of Southampton, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Food Standards Agency

Ande Gregson, Founder and Director, Green Lab

17.30 Closing remarks

Dr Belinda Clarke, Director, Agri-Tech East

17.40 Networking reception

Sponsored by SmithsonHill

An opportunity to reflect on the outcomes of the day with colleagues while enjoying some agri-innovative drinks and nibbles!

18.30 Event close and depart

EXHIBITION

See some of the highlights of this year's exhibition:

This is one of the highlights in our calendar as a ‘must attend’ – it’s one of the only events where every interaction will add value for you.

– Antony Yousefian, Director UK, 30MHz

Exhibitors:

University of Lincoln

The University of Lincoln will be represented by Mr David May, Senior Project Manager from the Lincoln Institute of Agri Food Technology (LIAT). LIAT is embedded in the University’s College of Science and engages academic staff in a wide range of technology focused research and development projects in conjunction with the industry.

Key projects include the development of state of the art tracking and tracing techniques to monitor food borne pathogens (Campylobacter), the use of big data to control massive networks of machines (refrigeration systems), the development of novel sensors to monitor soil moisture and the application of robotics in agri food production, which includes processing, harvesting and weed control.

At REAP LIAT will be supported by Saga Robotics who will demonstrate Thorvald, a revolutionary platform with the capability to carry a wide range of sensors in an agricultural environment and also be deployed as an autonomous carrying system.

University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire has recently launched the Hertfordshire Science Partnership which leverages the state-of-the-art facilities and academic expertise at the University to boost the dynamic agri-technology and life sciences sector in the UK. The scheme is funded by the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the European Regional Development Fund.

Organisations can benefit from subsidised rates when accessing our expertise:

– Hertfordshire Knowledge Exchange Partnerships (HKEPs) enable companies to benefit from tailored PhD level projects with input from academics throughout the 4-year programme
– Rent our facilities, or commission our dedicated scientists to carry out research on your behalf

We will exhibit research projects in areas including crop protection against pathogens, plant physiology and genomics, through interactive and visual forms such as video streaming, posters, and live demonstrations of plants with disease traits. We will also display outcomes from our applied degrees in agriculture subjects, including post graduate degrees in BSc Applied Plant and Animal Biology and MSc Environmental Management with Agriculture.

University of Essex

Our stand will showcase Robot-Fish – a robot which looks like a fish, can swim like a fish and is autonomous. It is fitted with various sensors that help Robot-Fish to move and also allow it to collect data. There will be videos of Robot-Fish ‘in action’ running in the background and the model will be available for delegates to see.

We will also be focusing on manipulating plant processes (photosynthesis, WUE, sensors, ability to with stand abiotic stress) to improve plant growth and crop yield and state-of-the art techniques for monitoring plant performance. This will include molecular biosensors and novel phenotyping approaches developed in-house at Essex, many of which are finding applications in industry.

Hands-on activities will include thermography for monitoring stomatal performance as well as hand-held instrumentation for monitoring photosynthetic efficiency and plant stress.

Soil Moisture Sense

Soil Moisture Sense Ltd specialises in remote soil moisture and climate monitoring. Our experienced team work with growers to provide bespoke monitoring solutions for all types of production system. We offer a full service from installation to online data display with decision support.

We believe that data needs to be presented in a simple, easy to access format which is easy to interpret, so informed decisions can be made on the move.

We have been using Sentek soil moisture probes for over 20 years and these remain the core of our moisture monitoring systems.

Over the past two years we have developed our own irrigation automation system, which builds upon our existing tried and tested monitoring equipment.

Smith Institute

The Smith Institute is an independent company that specialises in solving complex challenges for businesses and governments by applying mathematical techniques.

We work at the forefront of innovation in high value sectors including telecommunications, transport, defence, retail, energy, manufacturing and agri-business. We help clients develop new capabilities, design, manage and deliver innovation programs, from background research and definition of problem statement to bespoke methodology and models, proof of concept and implementation.

Our services can enable organisations in the agri-tech sector to respond more dynamically to market opportunities. For example, the Smith Institute has experience in translating your knowledge and data into models, algorithms or toolboxes for advanced visualisation, decision-making and operational optimisation. We have substantial experience in data science applications gained from numerous collaborations, organising data science workshops and delivering projects which have large data components.

At REAP we will exhibit a demo of a tool recently developed that turns historical observations and current weather forecasts into predictions on crop readiness. It allows the user to explore multiple scenarios before and during a growing season and perform “what if” analysis.

Small Robot Company

Small Robot Company aims to offer robots to farmers through a Farming as a Service (FaaS) model comprising hardware and a software service. Farmers would pay a per hectare subscription fee for a robotic hardware service which digitises the farm, and delivers crop care at per-plant precision.

The robots take care of all the feeding, seeding, and weeding. When one of these robots is needed, it turns up and does its job. When it is finished, it is taken away. This makes it very low risk for farmers to trial and adopt. It also means that farmers no longer have to worry about buying, storing or maintenance of most crop care machinery and equipment.

Find out more at smallrobotcompany.com

Rural Business Research

Rural Business Research combines the forces of some of Britain’s top researchers in the field of farming, the environment and rural business. We are valued suppliers to many organisations looking for rigorous fundamental and applied research and the powerful application of data.

RBR is totally independent, a consortium of leading academic units delivering projects for government, levy-funded research bodies, research councils, and commercial clients.

From our research teams around the country, RBR provides exceptional expertise with deep local knowledge, from specific regional studies, national data collection and analysis, economic and environmental modelling and assessments, to the largest survey of its kind in this country, the Farm Business Survey, carried out for Defra.

Use www.farmbusinesssurvey.co.uk to compare your business to farms in the Farm Business Survey (FBS). Or, make projections of business performance. Projections are made with accurate FBS data and forward market values.

For more information, please visit: www.farmbusinesssurvey.co.uk and www.ruralbusinessresearch.co.uk.

Rade

Rade is a digital agency, based in East Anglia, who specialise in creating complex corporate and ecommerce web sites and integrated mobile apps.

Rade started way back in 1996. Since then, we have worked on a huge variety of projects, for clients across many industry sectors but with a strong emphasis on agriculture.

Rade has delivered a wide range of technical solutions to the Agri sector including:

A mobile app and secure web portal for Clarity Biosolutions that uses Bluetooth to communicate with specialist test equipment
A sophisticated genetics database for dairy farmers and industry professionals
An award winning and innovative mobile app for the pig sector to deliver video training in the field
An agronomy app with interactive pest and disease reporting for the PGRO
A market data app for beef and sheep farmers built for AHDB.
A multi-website system for Opico’s six brands
An integrated corporate website, members extranet and back office system for FramFarmers

We understand that building strong relationships with our clients is key to our success. Our skilled team will work closely with you to ensure nothing is overlooked. We’ll be there in the long-term to help you increase productivity and achieve your desired results.

ProData

Prodata Weather Systems have been supplying cost effective environmental and weather monitoring solutions to the agricultural market for nearly 25 years.

At REAP this year we will be showcasing the Davis EnviroMonitor solution. Since it came to market 12 months ago it has been very well received by growers and producers alike. Prodata prides itself on offering tailor made solutions and providing a customised service to surpass customer expectations.

Plater Bio

Plater Bio manufactures novel biostimulants and fertilizers for the agriculture and horticulture industries.

Plater Bio was founded in 2016 and all products are manufactured at our four-hectare factory in Glossop, Derbyshire.

Stand-out products from the Plater Bio portfolio include:

Gold Leaf – the world’s first fertilizer to contain every essential plant nutrient in a fully soluble form. Can be used as a ‘complete’ fertilizer on field crops, or as a ‘one part’ hydroponic fertilizer.
Fungal Chitosan – a potent elicitor of plant defence mechanism, used as a bio fungicide/bactericide under EU organic regulations. Plater Bio’s chitosan in manufactured from fungi, not animal waste (as is the industry norm).
Zinc ammonium citrate – unique chelated micronutrient. Reduced scorch compared to sulphate salts. Biorational, unlike EDTA chelates.
Liquid Gypsum – 2000 times more active than powdered gypsum. Solution, not a suspension (as is the industry norm).

Plater bio can also supply fertilizer raw materials and contract spray-drying of biological extracts and microbial products.

Find out more at www.platergroup.co.uk/plater-bio

Olombria

Over 75% of agricultural crops worldwide rely on insects for pollination to ensure increased yields at harvest. In many cases farmers will rent or purchase commercial bee hives during the bloom season. However, the total demand for insect-pollinated crops is increasing five times as fast as available hives. Add to this that the number of wild pollinators is steadily declining, and there is a direct risk to many crops that threatens food security.

Olombria uses specific species of flies to supplement bees as primary pollinators. Flies already do about 30% of the world’s pollination, but the Olombria technology substantially increases their effectiveness. We use advanced, natural chemical signaling and mapping technologies to choreograph their behaviour, placing them just where the crops need them to be.

Find out more at flypollination.com

NIAB

NIAB is the UK’s fastest growing crop science organisation, with rapidly expanding research capabilities in plant genetics, agronomy, farming systems and data science, the largest national field trials capability, and strong research links with industry, Government and academia.

With headquarters in Cambridge, and regional offices across the country, employing more than 400 people across the UK, NIAB provides scientific research, technical services and practical advice to improve the yield, efficiency and resilience of crop production across the arable, forage and horticulture sectors.

NIAB is at the forefront in the development of new and innovative products, services and research to ensure the best and most recent science and information is translated into practice. For example the online and interactive Potato Yield Modelling service from NIAB Digital, ensures on-farm and supply chain profitability is maximised by generating real-time forecasts of total and graded potato yield across the season.

NIAB is also working to improve disease diagnostic technologies for use in the laboratory, field and farm office. Examples showcased at REAP include MinION, the portable genome sequencing technology, and loop-mediated isothermal amplification, known as LAMP.

Martin Lishman

Martin Lishman Ltd has over 40 years’ experience of designing and producing crop storage and quality control products. In the context of using agritech solutions to help solve huge post-harvest losses, we will be highlighting ways in which our products help customers reduce waste, increase quality and save time and money.

There will be a chance to look at how users of our Barn Owl Wireless remote monitoring and automatic fan control system make significant storage energy and time cost savings while avoiding costly rejections due to high temperatures or insects.

Preventing waste due to damage and bruising during production, handling and transport of fresh produce is a major benefit of our TuberLog electronic potato. This is now used worldwide in the potato industry. The concept has recently been extended with our latest innovation – ImpacTrack – a temperature and impact logger used to monitor and record damage to more delicate produce such as avocados, sweetcorn, apples and eggs. Advances in 3D printing technology mean that we can create a carrier shell for the logger in virtually any food shape. Users can track progress of produce through the entire post-harvest supply chain, leading to less waste and higher production yields.

EnviroMonitors

Affordable, quality technology to measure and record your climate and growing environment. This technology provides the data for sound decision making – for improving yields, crop quality and conserving water.

Whether you need to remotely monitor soil nutrients, rain, frost, sunlight or almost anything you can think of, our friendly team can configure the ideal monitoring system for your requirements.

We are the authorised and sole UK and Eire distributor for Onset HOBO, in addition to being a Platinum Dealer for Spectrum Technologies and Premium Dealer for Davis and RainWise weather stations.

EnviroMonitors is a division of Tempcon Instrumentation Ltd, established 1980.

Call us on 01243 558280, or email: info@enviromonitors.co.uk Find out more at www.enviromonitors.co.uk

DroneAG

Based on a 6000 acre farm, we are a UK based team of farmers, agronomists and drone operators developing and providing end-to-end drone solutions for agriculture. From crop mapping and analysis to spraying systems, we provide simple to use drone technology and training that makes farming more accurate and efficient.

DroneAG will be showcasing our new drone training courses aimed at farmers and crop consultants, as well as our crop-sensor upgrades for consumer drone systems.

Find out more at droneag.farm.

Consus Fresh Solutions

Do you aspire to reduce your food waste, increase your profits and demonstrate advanced traceability? Take a look at Consus – A Fresher Solution

The Consus software solution has been written specifically for the Fresh Produce Supply Chain, focused on growing, packing and distribution operations serving the multiple retailers. Our cloud based multi-user infrastructure allows you to manage your packing processes, cut waste, increase profits and report on the traceability and quality of your products in real time.

With our fully integrated advanced traceability systems (including full packaging mass balance), you can trace a pallet from field to despatch, and from despatch back to field with full history and Quality Assurance visibility. This greatly assists with BRC audits, and customer compliance. The whole traceability process takes minutes to complete, greatly improving the efficiency of your auditing solutions.

With our pallet temperature alerting and predictive shelf life modelling systems, you can reduce your food waste and increase your profits. See your results using our integrated production costing module that gives full visibility of your production costs / profitability per pack instantly. Visit us on our stand at REAP 2018 for a demonstration to see if Consus is a solution for you.

Read more about Consus Fresh in our article, or find out more at www.consusfresh.co.uk

Clarity Biosolutions

Next generation Quantitative Lateral Flow Reader and Data Management

Clarity Biosolutions discovers and develops novel technologies for both veterinary and clinical diagnostics. Clarity has developed a portable quantitative lateral flow reader which combines the high-resolution performance of laboratory-based readers with the convenience of a mobile phone app (ClariScan™) which allows:

Reader control via Bluetooth.
Data management and analysis.
User-friendly results display.
Upload of time-stamped and geo-tagged results to secure cloud database.

With precision lateral flow tests, the reader provides accurate, quantitative results necessary for biomarker analysis for a variety of tests developed both by Clarity and by third party LFD test manufacturers. It is hand-held for pen-side and point-of-sampling use and connects either by USB to a laptop (for charging) or via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, allowing results to be stored temporarily until data can be transmitted and stored securely on a cloud database. The reader is driven by the Clariscan™ App, which has been designed by RADE for both animal health and crop applications.

Analytik

Analytik is a leading provider of innovative scientific instruments specialising in Molecular Spectroscopy, Spectral Imaging, Remote Sensing, Particle Characterisation, High Shear Homogenisation, Light Measurement and more.

Our solutions for agriculture include:

Hyperspectral Imaging – lab-based and UAV solutions for disease and weed mapping, monitoring crop growth rate and density, canopy cover, pigment concentration, and high-speed produce processing
Multispectral Imaging – patented technology for the identification of crop parasites and impurities, analysing meat muscle/fat content and colour, detecting adulteration and food fraud, and monitoring maturity, ripeness, disease, infections and freshness
Remote Sensing – for forestry, ecology, plant physiology, and crop and soil research

Our solutions are designed to enable maximisation of crop yields, inform effective decision-making, reduce environmental impact and lower costs surrounding use of pesticides, fertiliser, herbicides and water.

With in-house expertise and additional technical support available from our manufacturers, we are able to help commercial, academic and research organisations alike with a wide range agricultural challenges. We offer extensive consultation and support services to ensure customers get the most out of their investment and pride ourselves on the strong relationships we build with our customers, suppliers and partners.

Analytik is proud to be a member of Agri-tech East.

Agrimetrics

Agrimetrics provides, connects and analyses complex data to drive greater productivity for agrifood businesses and deliver food sustainably. We aim to help solve the global challenges of economically, ethically and environmentally sustainable food production through the use of data, analytics and artificial intelligence.

Agrimetrics will be showcasing its new suite of products: Field Explorer is our new product line which allows you access to data on weather, cropping and soil for 1 or all 1.45 million fields in the UK.

It offers the food and farming industry access to critical field-level parameters in one place.

More information: agrimetrics.co.uk

ADAS

ADAS is the leading agricultural R&D and consultancy business in the UK, with over 60 specialisms including soil science, crop physiology, crop protection, nutrition, horticulture, sustainable supply chains, ecology, economics, policy, modelling, informatics, GIS, web and software development and chemical regulatory compliance.

ADAS applies digital technologies to challenges across the environmental, agricultural and rural sectors and will be showcasing a number of its current Agri-Tech initiatives:

Agronomics is a new approach for progress in agriculture, addressing questions that matter in networks of farmers, supporters and researchers utilising precision farming technologies, shared data and robust statistics to transform knowledge generation.
The ADAS Yield Enhancement Network or YEN (www.yen.adas.co.uk) connects agricultural organizations and farmers who are striving to improve crop yields. The YEN is now growing internationally and provides a platform for engagement with farmers, advisers, scientists and industry.
INNO-VEG is a new EU funded project investigating the potential for high resolution spatial crop data derived from farmer led research to drive innovation in the field vegetable and potato sectors.

30MHz

30MHz provides growers with everything they need to set up a wireless sensor network, and start monitoring their crops, growing environment and storage in a matter of minutes, all without any technical expertise.

Customers choose the combination of sensors for their context (capturing metrics including VPD, dewpoint, soil moisture, light intensity, temperature, humidity, windspeed, airflow and CO2). 30MHz provides a private, scalable mesh network (with the option to easily add more sensors at any time) and an intuitive analytics platform with real-time alerts, visualizations, heatmaps, charts and graphs. Data is easily exportable in CSV, analytics dashboards are easily shared with third parties (with adjustable permissions) and the 30MHz API allows users to connect external data sources (including weather and climate control data).

Real-time crop monitoring helps growers make quick, informed decisions with granular, accurate data. 30MHz customers have see quick payback, cases with ROI >1000%, 5% annual energy savings, labour producitivty and thousands in pesticide reduction too. We will showcasing and sharing these stories at REAP 18.

Some UK’s leading agribusiness Polybell Organic, Tangmere Peppers, Cottage Farms, Madestein, Vitacress Herbs, Wot-a-pollut and Thomas Thomson all work with smart sensing technology.

A big thanks to our sponsors...

AF

Bursary sponsor

The AF Group, the UK’s largest agricultural purchasing co-operative, is delighted to be supporting REAP with bursaries that allow farmers and growers to attend the conference for the discounted rate of £50 (+VAT) per delegate. Anyone in the UK who is a grower or farmer, or who is in full-time education in agriculture (or an agriculture-related discipline such as plant science, agri-engineering, environmental sciences etc) is eligible to apply. Complete the entry form here.

As farming businesses adopt more and more technology, AF is pleased to work closely with Agri-Tech East to help them build a hub of global innovation in the east of England.

Jon Duffy, AF Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Technology is a key part of our industry and will play an increasingly important role in farming businesses in the future. It is crucial we share knowledge and ideas to keep up-to-date with the latest developments, and conferences like REAP are an ideal way to do this.”

View more information at theafgroup.co.uk

Innovate UK

Field sponsor

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government.

We drive productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK’s world-class research base. We’re an organisation of around 300 staff, drawn mainly from business working across the UK, with a head office in Swindon.

With a strong business focus, we drive growth by working with companies to de-risk, enable and support innovation by connecting businesses to the partners, customers and investors and funding business and research collaborations.

Since 2007 Innovate UK have committed over £1.8 billion to innovation and across all sectors, and this has been matched by a similar amount in partner and business funding. We have helped some 8,000 organisations with projects estimated to add more than £16 billion to the UK economy and create nearly 70,000 jobs.

Calum Murray, Head of Agriculture and Food and Innovate UK said “Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions, including agriculture and food here in the East of England. We are therefore delighted to be supporting the AgriTech East and the REAP conference.

For further information on Innovate UK visit the Innovate UK website.

AHDB

Sponsor of the Keynote Address

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers and the supply chain and managed as an independent organisation. Their role is to inspire and provide the tools for farmers, growers and industry to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

The AHDB work with six sectors including cereals and oilseeds, dairy, beef and lamb, pork, potatoes and horticulture to provide industry leading information. They carry out extensive research and development programmes, provide market information and analysis, do export development work, run education programmes and carry out knowledge exchange work with levy payers aimed at improving efficiency, productivity and sustainability.

Dr Susannah Bolton, AHDB’s Knowledge Exchange Director, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Keynote Session at the REAP Conference this year. This builds on our close collaboration, membership and support of Agri-Tech East. Professor Zhenling Cui’s world-leading research on soil and fertiliser management are two key themes for AHDB including our recent GREATsoils work and the new Nutrient Management Guide (RB209). We look forward to hearing from Prof. Cui about how he further employed Borlaug’s “take it to the farmer” ideology and used effective knowledge exchange to increase Chinese food production for millions of Chinese farming families, an important focus area for AHDB.”

For more information on AHDB, please visit: www.ahdb.org.uk.

BBSRC/UKRI

Sponsor of the Emerging Agri-Tech session

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Funded by government, BBSRC invested £498 million in world-class bioscience in 2017-18.

Agriculture and food security is a priority for BBSRC and we aim to realise the potential of scientific advances to deliver innovations for farming. We support around 1,600 scientists in universities and institutes across the UK and invested £142.4m in agriculture and food security research programmes in 201718.

We support the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), through which the Transforming Food Production Challenge will deliver £90m of new funding for precision agricultural technologies that will transform food production while reducing emissions, pollution, waste, and soil erosion and creating new export opportunities.

For more information on how BBSRC is working to support collaboration please visit: www.bbsrc.ukri.org/innovation

For further information on the Transforming Food Production Challenge, please visit www.ukri.org/innovation/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/transforming-food-production or contact Business.Unit@bbsrc.ukri.org

BASF

Sponsor of the Accelerating innovation session

Farming today is more complex than ever before; the unpredictability of the weather, control of pest and weeds, market price development, scarcity of natural resources. To rise to this challenge, farmers need new technologies and solutions.

Working together to overcome challenges and find new solutions is one of BASF’s great strengths, and it’s something we’ve been doing in agriculture for over 100 years. Our employees are in constant contact with farmers and agricultural experts in every region around the globe. They work hard to understand what approaches are required to optimise agricultural production, increase farm profitability and improve the quality of life for a growing world population.

In the face of a changing industry, with increasingly complex challenges, we are committed to providing solutions that go beyond our market-leading chemistry. We’re working with partners from across the world to develop a wide range of digital tools. From established tech giants, to innovative start-ups, as well as listening to leading growers and advisors, we’re investing in ideas that will change the way we farm forever.

Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise

Sponsor of the Start-Up Showcase

At the heart of agricultural research, The Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise, RoCRE, is a unique hub focused on promoting collaboration and innovation by partnering with commercial agricultural technology businesses and opening up the research process.

Renowned for our expertise as the world’s oldest agri-science research centre, RoCRE offers state of the art conference facilities, flexible collaborative laboratory and office space and lab incubation units that are home to a vibrant community of Agri-Tech start up and growth businesses including Agri-Tech East members Timac Agro and Agrix Advisors.

Nicole Sadd, CEO of RoCRE, said: “We are delighted to be the Start-Up Showcase sponsor at the 2018 REAP conference. RoCRE are committed to supporting innovation and excellence in agri-tech research, particularly in the East of England and through our partners such as Agri-Tech East.”

SmithsonHill

Sponsor of the Networking Reception

SmithsonHill will be at REAP to share updates about their proposed facility for AgriTech and associated sciences, with ability for crop and new technology trials at the heart of the East of England.

Emma Fletcher, Managing Director at SmithsonHill, said: “Cambridge is at the heart of an emerging AgriTech Cluster. We are fortunate to have around us some of the world’s leading agricultural research facilities – our approach will provide that next step – taking the science out of the lab and the field, enabling product and process development to a commercial scale. We fundamentally believe that technology can radically change the industry and that by providing a world-class facility to complement existing resources we can further build on the synergy between farming, multi-disciplinary science and technology as part of the new agricultural revolution.”

SmithsonHill are active members of AgriTech East, as is joint venture partner Russell Smith Farms. At REAP SmithsonHill are hosts of the end of day networking reception and are excited to share their plans with key opinion leaders in the AgriTech space.

Find out more by following us @SmithsonHill on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIN, or at www.smithsonhill.co.uk

Savills

Sponsor of the Farmers’ Breakfast

Farmers have traditionally been price takers not price makers but from now on it will be those businesses that innovate, diversify and evolve – differentiating themselves in the marketplace – that are set to thrive. The successful farm will need to adopt the most efficient and productive technologies and farming systems, harvesting and scrutinising data to inform decision making.

Savills provides a range of specialist management and consultancy services to food and farming businesses, delivering practical support and guidance in a constantly changing industry. We understand that farming today covers wide-ranging activities and that many farms operate as complex enterprises, so our involvement draws on the broadest land and property expertise in the UK.

Find out more at savills.co.uk