The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.
Drone Ag technology is enhancing efficiency and profitability for agriculture globally. Their drone AI technology allows for automated data collection and real-time analysis, helping agri companies manage resources more effectively and enabling environmentally responsible practices.
We’re live on Crowdcube – and we’ve already raised over £300,000 in less than 48 hours!
It’s been 3 years since our last public crowdfund. Since then, we’ve been busy developing simple, effective drone tech that’s transforming agriculture – and now, you can join us on the next stage of our journey.
👉 Invest now and help shape the future of farming.
Highlights
Raised over £2m since 2019 & won over £750k Innovate UK grants invested in IP development.
Started rollout to 4 R&D sites in Europe for Syngenta.
Over 5,000 flights made with Skippy Scout in 2024 across the globe.
Agrii holds a 4% equity stake in the company as a strategic investment.
Capital at risk.
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.
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The recent passing of secondary legislation to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act for plants in England marks a milestone moment for UK agriculture. England is now aligned with countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and India, which have already approved gene-edited plant varieties such as high-GABA tomatoes, drought-tolerant rice, and herbicide-resistant soybeans.
As GMO regulation is a devolved matter, legislative harmony across UK nations has not yet been achieved. Currently, this is an England only Act, meaning that it has provided a new category for precision bred organisms to be authorised in England. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, these organisms will remain classified as genetically modified organisms.
The legislation unlocks a regulatory pathway for gene-edited crops to be developed and commercialised under a domestic framework. This distinguishes them from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and enables innovations that would have previously been stalled. This shift marks a significant step in the England’s agricultural policy, positioning it as a leader in precision breeding innovation.
But what does this mean for the wider agri-tech sector? And where do livestock and aquaculture — also covered in the Precision Breeding Act — stand in comparison?
A Step Forward for Plant Breeding
This new legislation gives clarity and confidence to plant breeders working with traits that would traditionally be enhanced through traditional breeding, but now with more speed and precision through gene editing. We expect the initial wave of activity to focus on traits that improve:
Disease resistance
Climate resilience (e.g. drought or heat tolerance)
Nutritional value
Input efficiency (e.g. reduced fertiliser or pesticide use)
For producers, it could mean access to varieties that are resilient to changing environmental conditions or that provide for consumer preferences — crucial in a sector under mounting pressure to deliver more with less. We’re also seeing development of cross-functional GE crops like high-lipid barley, which has been linked to reduced methane emissions in livestock.
The Science Is Ready – But Is the System?
We now have the scientific tools to introduce targeted, subtle genetic changes — changes that could have arisen naturally over time — with a precision unimaginable even a decade ago. In livestock, we’ve already seen examples like PRRS-resistant pigs or polled (hornless) cattle where gene editing can deliver clear welfare and production benefits.
But having the tools is not the same as having a system ready to use them. For gene editing to fulfil its potential in either plants or animals, science must be backed by:
Aligned legislation and trade frameworks
Trust-building across the supply chain and with the public
Robust monitoring, decision-making, and governance systems
England has taken a bold step forward with plants, but the needs of the wider system that have been outlined above — particularly in animals — still require development. The regulatory path for livestock is still incomplete, and international divergence (including within the UK) poses barriers for deployment and trade.
What About Animals?
While the Act also applies to livestock and aquaculture, no secondary legislation has yet been implemented for animals — and this creates both opportunity and uncertainty.
As highlighted in the Harnessing Genetic Tools report developed by AbacusBio for the UK Agri-tech Centres and the Roslin Institute, animal gene editing has the potential to:
Eradicate or reduce major diseases (e.g. PRRS in pigs)
Accelerate genetic gain while maintaining the integrity of the animal
However, the path to commercial use is less clear. Animal editing faces higher regulatory, ethical, and social hurdles, especially around welfare monitoring, ethics, environmental risk, and public acceptance. Cross-border trade challenges also remain a barrier.
Shared Opportunities, Shared Challenges
Whether in plants or animals, gene editing is not about “playing God” — it’s about accelerating changes that could happen naturally, but in a more targeted, predictable way. In both cases, the key considerations are similar:
Do we have clear breeding goals tied to sustainability and resilience?
Are systems in place for monitoring intended and unintended effects?
Can we align regulation, public trust, and commercial demand?
The lessons from plant roll-out will be instructive. If well-governed and communicated, early plant successes could help pave the way for animal applications.
What We’re Advising Clients
At AbacusBio, we’re working closely with clients across the value chain — from breeders and producers to policy and research partners — to help them prepare. Our advice is:
Start building capability now. Even if deployment is still down the road for animals, the foundations — genomic infrastructure, breeding goal refinement, and public engagement — are best laid early.
Think system-wide. Gene editing is one tool among many — it will be most powerful when combined with other technologies like genomic selection, Artificial Intelligence in breeding decisions, and sustainability benchmarking.
Consider the long-term implication. It takes a substantial amount of R&D to get a precision breeding idea from concept to commercialisation. A robust and informative framework that assesses candidate gene edits for potential progression from research, proof of concept, integration into breeding and variety development programs, through to commercialisation is essential.
Stay engaged and vocal. The plant sector is showing what’s possible when policy moves. Animal sector voices — including from producers and scientists — will be essential to ensure the next phase of legislation reflects both opportunity and practicality.
Looking Ahead
The passage of secondary legislation for plants is cause for optimism. It shows that England is willing to lead with science, while also demanding responsible innovation. The challenge now is to extend that clarity and capability across the whole of agriculture — plant and animal alike — and ensure we harness the best of genetic technology for a more sustainable future.
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The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is one of the losers of the government’s spending review that sets departmental budgets up to 2028-29. This will only add to the frustrations of rural communities and a sector that feels likes it has already born the brunt of Labour’s early policymaking decisions. The spending review was an opportunity for the government to repair its relationship with the sector after the damage of the 2024 autumn budget with the changes to Agriculture Property Relief, as well as the early closure of the Sustainable Farming Initiative. Defra’s budget will undergo a real terms decrease of 0.7 per cent from 2023-24 to 2028-29. This means that departmental spending will flatline in cash terms at roughly £7.5bn. Sector stakeholders have cautiously welcomed Defra settlement having feared that cuts to spending could’ve been far worse.
However, reflecting the Chancellor’s decision to tweak and omit capital spending from her fiscal rules, there is a small win for Defra. Over the course of this parliament, capital spending will significantly increase. Defra is set to receive £16 billion of capital funding from now until 2029-30, equivalent to an annual average real terms growth rate of 2.5%. The challenge for Defra ministers will be deploying this funding effectively to deliver on their ambitions for food, farming and the environment.
The government’s spending review documents set out how some of this funding will be spent:
£2.7 billion per year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026‑27 until 2028‑29.
£2.3 billion through the Farming and Countryside Programme and up to £400 million from additional nature schemes.
Increasing support for nature-friendly farming through Environmental Land Management schemes from £800 million in 2023-24 to £2 billion by 2028‑29.
Beyond the allocations detailed in the review, attention will now turn to how the remainder of the Defra spending envelope will be portioned out and likely through the upcoming policy documents that the sector is eagerly awaiting. From a National Food Strategy to the review into farming profitability and the revised Land Use Framework, Defra ministers need to navigate competing sector demands – an exercise that will almost certainly involve trade-offs. While Defra ministers keep reiterating that ‘food security is national security’, it still feels as though the dots have not yet been fully connected. Securing the nation’s food supply means boosting domestic production, reducing a reliance on overseas imports and accomplished through supporting the long-term viability of farming and innovative agricultural solutions and technologies.
Now is an opportunity to engage and a lot is up for grabs. Businesses and investors should use this window to advocate for their priorities and influence policy development at both a ministerial and government official level.
If you’d like to discuss this in more detail, including how GK Strategy can support you with government relations and communication, please contact James Allan.
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Landmark Health and Safety Executive (HSE) permit, delivered in partnership with Certis Belchim, paves the way for a revolutionary new method to clean glasshouses and boost crop performance.
Stoke-On-Trent, UK – June 11, 2025– AutoSpray Systems, leaders in the UK’s agri-drone revolution, today confirmed they have been awarded the first-ever UK trial permit by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the aerial application of a biocide.
This significant regulatory milestone, achieved in partnership with crop protection specialists Certis Belchim, covers the aerial drone application of an algaecide to tackle widespread algae build-up on glasshouse roofs. This represents the first step towards securing a full commercial authorisation for the practice.
Algal films on glass are a growing issue for the UK horticultural sector, caused by increasingly damp and mild weather conditions. The build-up significantly reduces light transmission, limiting crop performance and reducing energy efficiency in high-value protected cropping systems. Traditionally, cleaning these structures is labour-intensive, disruptive, and often impractical at scale.
Andy Sproson, Director at AutoSpray Systems, commented, ‘Securing this landmark permit from the HSE is a testament to our team’s hard work and our close, collaborative relationship with UK regulators. This isn’t just about cleaning glass; it’s about providing the horticulture sector with a powerful new tool to enhance productivity and operate more safely. We are proving that drone technology offers smarter, cleaner, and more efficient solutions to long-standing industry challenges, and we’re excited to be leading the charge towards full commercial approval.’
The aerial drone solution allows glasshouses to be treated quickly and safely without the need for scaffolding or access platforms. The application is precise, consistent, and repeatable, ensuring light levels can be rapidly restored to improve crop growth and uniformity.
This permit marks the beginning of a full regulatory pathway toward commercial approval. It is a transformative development for the UK horticultural sector, showcasing how drone technology can solve practical challenges with safer and smarter application methods.
About AutoSpray Systems: AutoSpray Systems is leading the agri-drone revolution in the UK. Its purpose is to revolutionise UK agriculture through the safe, smart, and sustainable use of autonomous drone technology.
About Certis Belchim: Certis Belchim is a leading crop protection company, offering a wide range of innovative and sustainable solutions for growers across Europe in both agriculture and horticulture.
Media Contact: Sam Edwards pr@autospraysystems.com 07907597840
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A Norfolk software company is collaborating with farms to make the equipment they have used for decades digitally intelligent – increasing productivity and saving farmers from having to spend thousands of pounds on expensive new machinery.
Greenstalk, which is based in Loddon near Norwich, is working with farming businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk to revolutionise their existing machines – from weighbridges to production lines – so the output of multiple elements can be monitored and tracked on one software platform via a mobile device.
It was a chance conversation about a broken bird scarer that led to David Aarons, managing director of Greenstalk, working with the farming sector, having achieved a string of national and international awards for innovation and technology design during his career.
Ian Field, from Raveningham Estate farms in Norfolk said: “I was in the workshop fiddling around with an old gas gun bird scarer which was proving to be a challenge. Quite by chance David Aarons called in for a social visit and was very interested in what the problem was and, as always, he went away and came back with a host of ideas.”
What evolved from that meeting was a collaboration that has transformed elements of Raveningham’s business.
Greenstalk has worked with the farm’s managers to retro-fit monitors to a range of equipment including irrigation pumps and grain stores, enabling the Raveningham team to monitor power usage and efficiency via Greenstalk’s web-based software platform.
Farm manager Wayne Beales said: “Previously we were reliant on checking in person to see that everything was working correctly. With the monitors fitted, we now have access to all the information from those assets on one dashboard and we can see instantly if there’s a problem and deal with it.”
Ian Field said: “David and his team are very capable of turning an unsatisfactory situation into a viable success. They always ask ‘what do want it to do or be?’, rather than saying ‘this is what we have and this is what you need’.”
At Frederick Hiam’s farm at Brandon Fields in Suffolk, Greenstalk installed sensors to an old weighbridge which now photographs and records the details of vehicles arriving on site and analyses the weight, type and condition of the load. The system uses existing CCTV cameras with bespoke software that can also monitor the vehicle throughout its time on site.
Managing Director Jamie Lockhart said: “I had spoken to other companies about upgrading the weighbridge and they said we would need to buy a new one at a significant cost, but I knew David had clever ways of making machines talk to each other, so I shared what we wanted to achieve.
“We were having to do everything manually and no one knew what was on site until a ticket was delivered to the relevant person. Now we know, as soon as something arrives, what the load is and how much there is – and we haven’t had to spend a whole load of money on new cameras. We get instant recognition that it’s the right vehicle in the right place at the right time.”
Other innovations at Brandon Fields include digitally monitoring the power usage of production lines which removes the need to produce spreadsheets to analyse results, and creating a geofence around the farm’s fuel tanks to protect them from theft. CCTV cameras now trigger a recording 30 seconds before any vehicle enters or leaves the fuel area, preventing the need to review hours of footage if an incident occurs.
David Aarons said: “At Greenstalk, our vision has always been to build the solutions farmers need, from the ground up, by listening to their needs and adapting our technology to suit. Enabling devices, sensors and platforms to talk to each other helps farmers to manage their operations more efficiently, monitor crop health in real-time, and make data-driven decisions.
“Many people are nervous of investing in new technology, but this is different – it’s about making existing machinery smarter and more efficient and it’s something we can apply to so many applications, which is what makes it so exciting.”
Brandon Fields and Raveningham Estates both continue to work with Greenstalk to explore additional ways to introduce new technology to their businesses.
Jamie Lockhart said: “It’s great for us because we can develop the technology to be exactly how we want it to be and we can redeploy it on other machines to monitor other things, like the output from our packing machines, or the amount of rejected produce.It has been a breath of fresh air and the sort of thinking we want to engage with because, as an industry we are fed up with people selling us the dream and then we buy the reality, and the reality is somewhat disappointing. We are not in the dreams business.”
Greenstalk is a trading brand of Select Software, creating technology from the ground up.
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Following a feature on this year’s BBC Springwatch, the Wilder Sensing team were invited behind the scenes for a tour of the production village and even had the chance to sit in Chris and Michaela’s chairs inside the well known Springwatch tent.
This marks the second year running that Wilder Sensing has supported the show with remote bioacoustic monitoring, contributing data for an on screen segment exploring how climate change is driving earlier nesting in resident UK birds and how this shift may impact seasonal migrants such as the Cuckoo.
Bioacoustic monitoring is not only valuable for scientific research, it is also emerging as a practical and cost effective option for large scale environmental assessment across farmland. By providing continuous ecological insights, it supports smarter land management decisions and aligns with the growing evidence requirements set by food retailers and supply chain partners.
If you would like to discuss monitoring on your own sites, you can contact George Caterer at gcaterer@wildersensing.com
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Real Time Crop Photosynthesis insights directly integrated with Ridder Hortimax Pro.
In an exciting development for the horticultural sector, Gardin, an innovator in optical crop phenotyping technology and Ridder, a leader in greenhouse automation have announced a new joint solution integration.
Real time crop photosynthesis insights generated by the Gardin sensor + AI is now integrated with and directly visible within the new Ridder Hortimax Pro interface. Growers can now close the loop between their crop health and the environment with one solution. This strategic integration marks a significant advancement in horticultural production, empowering growers with real-time photosynthesis insights to monitor crop health, measure farm productivity, optimise their climate strategies and see the results faster than ever before.
Figure 1: Real time crop measurement within Hortimax Pro interface
“For years, we’ve helped growers automate climate control around the crop,” said Sander Baraké, Product Director at Ridder. “This next phase is about integrating real-time crop feedback into that loop, shifting from climate control to crop control. Gardin’s technology enables exactly that, and Ridder’s open platform makes it accessible at scale.
Results include profitability boosts of up to 30% by optimizing winter LED efficiency and maximising summer light. Yield increases of up to 15% and early detection of biotic and abiotic stresses by up to 4 weeks before crop walking,” he continued.
This new product integration highlights Ridder’s strategic role as the solution integrator in the horticultural technology ecosystem. With proven infrastructure deployed in thousands of greenhouses worldwide, Ridder provides the secure, open platform on which partners like Gardin can build and deploy cutting-edge innovations that directly benefit growers. These insights, once only available through manual scouting, are now embedded into the daily operation of commercial greenhouses through Hortimax Pro.
The collaboration between Gardin and Ridder represents a pivotal shift towards data-driven cultivation practices based on measurements of the crops. By harnessing Gardin’s state-of-the-art sensor technology, growers can now access real-time indications of light-use efficiency, assimilation and plant health. This integration allows growers to correlate their crop performance with the environment in real time, in a single dashboard; enabling growers to adjust their climate strategy to meet the needs of their crops and see real value faster than before.
“This joint product offering enables growers to monitor and control their environment and see the impact on their crops in a single interface for the first time. Ridder and Gardin developed this product together in a direct response to requests from their clients. The product is now being deployed with major growers in Europe and North America” said Sumanta Talukdar CEO at Gardin.
Both Gardin and Ridder are committed to continuous innovation as they work together to develop novel solutions for the horticulture industry. The continued partnership between Gardin and Ridder will deliver enhanced greenhouse technologies that lead to more sustainable and efficient growing practices.
For further information, please visit: www.gardin.ag/contact
About Gardin: Gardin is a pioneering agricultural technology company specializing in optical phenotyping solutions that are combined with machine learning to generate insights into plant health and productivity. Gardin’s technology is applicable to any crop species including vegetables, flowers and potted plants. Through its novel approach of ‘Plant Driven Growing’, Gardin is enabling growers to make decisions on the plants themselves to achieve significant increases in greenhouse performance.
About Ridder: Ridder is a global leader in horticultural technology, providing advanced automation solutions for climate control, irrigation & energy management. With a focus on sustainability and innovation, Ridder enhances the efficiency and productivity of horticultural operations worldwide through collaboration and integration of cutting-edge technology. www.ridder.com/
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Whilst yet to recover to the levels of 2011-2021, where capital invested in agritech increased 20-fold, investor funding in agritech is starting to pick up, and 2025 is set to be a strong year for capital deployment in this sector. This is mirrored by increased government backing, including schemes like the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership competition in the UK. Despite this, the crunch point remains funding at the late seed/Series A stage, where companies are at a crucial phase of development, have burned through seed capital, and are approaching open trials. As the market and grant availability pick up and prime the pump at this critical stage, the hope is that new products will be seen in the field within 5 years.
So what technologies would we expect to see emerging from this landscape as promising over the next five years and beyond? One area that seems ripe to take advantage of this scheme is next-generation farm analytics. AI-powered data gathering and processing promises to provide more actionable information about agricultural contexts than ever before. Whilst physical and electrical sensors are widely deployed, the explosion in miniaturised laboratory equipment means that biological markers are ready for maturity. Areas such as soil microbiomics, plant and animal pathogen detection, and water health biomarkers are not only imminent but, thanks to AI-powered inference systems, can be analysed on the basis of the biological system to provide deeper insights beyond simple detection assays.
Looking to the longer term, we might expect to see analytics integrated into “mirror farms” or digital twins that provide predictive models and virtual sandboxes to experiment with different interventions, decreasing uncertainty for farmers and working towards a derisked agriculture. These have already been developed in controlled environment farms, but as sensing and AI technology develops, these will become feasible for use with larger, open agriculture. For innovators, the value of these propositions will lie not just in their foundational technology but in their dynamic and extensive datasets. Building a business and legal strategy around this is not without challenges, but can be highly rewarding, if exclusivity can be maintained, through partnership with or acquisition by large agri-tech.
The ongoing need for biocontrol agents also creates opportunities for innovation. Despite ongoing challenges to public acceptance of chemical entities, alternative modalities are increasingly receiving positive results in trials, whether this is the RNAi-based biostimulants, gene silencing pesticides, or protein and peptide-based antimicrobials, whether isolated from natural organisms or designed de novo. As these approaches allow rapid prototyping, once the underlying biology is understood and the agent is proven safe, it is relatively trivial to change the targeting sequence. Further advancement in this technology might enable the development of new crop protection agents on demand. Similar to mRNA vaccines, farmers of the future may be able to provide a sample of a plant pathogen or insect pest, and receive a bespoke control agent tailored against it. This may mean that discovery and generation platforms are more valuable assets than the agents themselves, as the ability to develop new products rapidly and flexibly in response to the emergence of novel pathogen threats becomes more important, especially given the increased susceptibility of plants to infection at higher temperatures.
Similarly, microbial stimulants are another area of intensive development. As more is understood about the mutualistic relationships between plants and their associated bacteria, isolation and even engineering strains that secrete or process plant-stimulating compounds becomes ever more tangible. The regulatory framework for microbial adjuncts is by now well-established, and, to the extent that this employs isolated rather than engineered species, the pathway to market is fairly clear in Europe and the US. That said, maintaining exclusivity over such a technology can be challenging, and companies building in this space will need to consider carefully how they can protect and leverage their innovation. Looking further to the future, whilst microbes that improve the health of plants are already reaching the field, could we one day soon see farmers employing microbial cultures that fix atmospheric carbon within soil? Combined with the right subsidy programme, microbial geoengineering and bioremediation projects could form a valuable source of revenue for farmers of the future.
It is an exciting time in agritech, with promising technologies poised for deployment, and any indication that vital funding can kickstart innovation in this sector is a reason to celebrate. By targeting the crucial late seed stage, policy makers can fill a crucial gap in pre-revenue funding, getting solutions over the final hurdle and, from an investor perspective, start recouping their investment sooner from companies which have already survived the challenges of bootstrapping. This is also an inflection point for IP – the completion of R&D projects, imminent disclosure at go-to-market, and increased scrutiny of Series A investors often makes this the last opportunity to get a strategic handle on IP. Innovators who are able to put both their capital and IP to work should face no difficulties securing both a market niche and follow-on investment.
This article was prepared by Partner & Patent Attorney Punita Shah and Patent Director Andrew Tindall.
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New technology can feel daunting to adopt, so the article explains what bioacoustics is and how it can increase the affordability and scale of environmental monitoring across farmland while generating high value ecological insights.
Whether the aim is to track native species, measure the impact of regenerative practices, or provide evidence for sustainability reporting and grant funding, continuous remote monitoring offers a cost effective approach while delivering robust, scientifically backed data on ecological activity.
Farmers Weekly clip Wilder Sensing
If you would like to discuss monitoring on your own sites, you can contact George Caterer at gcaterer@wildersensing.com
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What is the most important aspect when it comes to choosing a developmentpartner?
Is it someone who can take your innovation completely off your hands and hand it back ready for market? Is it someone who will fully integrate into your existing team? Are you looking for end-to-end delivery, quick turnaround and low cost, or detailed development and phased programming? There is no right or wrong answer and everyone’s requirements are completely different.
At eg, when we partner with a new client, we spend a lot of time on the onboarding process to ensure we really get to know their way of doing things and get under the skin of their project. Innovators trust us with their ‘baby’ and in turn it becomes our ‘baby’. Our engineers treat each project as if it is their own to ensure they get the best results, which means our clients get the best results.
So, here are a few reasons why our clients repeatedly choose us as a development partner:
We are agile, adaptive and curated for excellence
eg are a team of 40+ people, this includes non-engineering staff, so every player counts. With a smaller team, it is imperative that each person is excellent at what they do and at eg, we stand by that claim! When we are allocating engineers to work on your project, you can be reassured that we are fielding our best team.
Being a smaller consultancy means we have the autonomy to be adaptive. Collaboration is often the answer to many problems and by being agile, flexible and by working together, we can prioritise our clients’ needs and solve their problems. We are constantly learning – through training, upskilling, from each other and from our mistakes – and therefore remain at the forefront of engineering innovation.
This flexibility also extends to the service we provide, which can be as integrated as you need it to be. We can act as a fully outsourced engineering resource – offering help with work programme development for funding applications and the option to leverage our network of suppliers and manufacturing partners – or we can provide the pieces of the development puzzle that you are missing, adding to your existing team and collaborating with your preferred partners to realise volume production.
We are a strategic partner
We take the time to understand our clients’ business processes, value propositions, objectives and goals. This forms a central part of every project and puts us in a position to provide strategic input and guidance. We not only help our clients to engineer the best product outcomes but also help them to navigate the development process from concept through to transfer to manufacture, and beyond in some cases. Our aim is not to develop a product that we think is great, but to build a product that will get manufactured and reach the market, because it’s great!
We have built partnerships with universities, accelerators, incubators, VCs, investors and other organisations which help their members to progress their innovation. These partnerships facilitate early introductions, allowing us to be integrated into our clients’ development programmes at an early stage. Early collaboration provides clients with our integrated expertise and extensive capabilities from the outset, allowing them to leverage our refined development roadmap, whilst we drive innovation and deliver optimum outputs, strategically.
Obviously, we don’t only work with innovators at the very start of their programme. Many companies come to us with an existing product which needs iterating or improving, or with a development which they are struggling to get to market. Going back to the beginning is not an option for many, but with a thorough pre-compliance gap analysis, TRL assessment or technical due diligence, any gaps can be identified, addressed and strategically factored into their programme.
Communication is central to programme success and regular meetings, progress reviews and updates are scheduled into each project, keeping us abreast of client-side market changes or requirements and keeping clients informed of project progress. This leads to better-informed decisions and optimisations whilst never sacrificing strategic direction.
We offer a tailored fit
We understand that your business may have multiple stakeholders – including external investors and partners. As such, we place emphasis on programme transparency and visibility. This enables us to identify risks from the outset and plan for all eventualities. It also allows us to phase our schedule of work to align with funding cycles, clinical schedules (where applicable) and investment rounds. Some of our clients are large, blue-chip companies, some are SMEs and some are smaller start-ups and in each of these relationships, we are dealing with different people – from clinicians, engineers, and innovators, to midlevel executives, CTOs/CEOs and board members. Each client or stakeholder has different challenges, requirements and expectations and we are well-versed in tailoring our approach to ensure our partnership not only compliments their business objectives, but also delivers the required outcomes.
We are not a ‘jack of all trades’
Many organisations want a one-stop-shop for their development. That’s not us.
We are an integrated product design, engineering and development specialist, with expertise in electronics, software and mechanical engineering, industrial design, human factors, technical due diligence & project management. We are ISO 13485 accredited and deliver inspiring and marketable products across MedTech, Lab/BioTech, Animal Health & VetCare, CleanTech, AgriTech, Consumer and Food/Drink Sectors. We excel in this space and are proud to have a team of exceptional engineers who know the development roadmap inside out.
However, product development is multifaceted and there are certain specialist areas in which external expertise is not only recommended, but required, specifically within MedTech development. We have built a network of partners, with whom we work in order to offer the best solutions to our clients. For example, although we have extensive knowledge of regulations and classifications, there are regulatory partners and test houses we work with to ensure our clients receive the best advice. The same goes for intellectual property. We are unusual in the fact that our clients keep their IP in its entirety, and to ensure they get the best protection, we can introduce them to trusted 3rd parties, if they so require. We have built a carefully curated selection of suppliers and manufacturers and can advise which we think will be most suitable for each project. We are happy for our clients to leverage our partner network to maximise success.
We would rather be masters of our trade, rather than a jack of all trades and master of none.
As you can probably tell, we are very proud of our team and the business we have built. eg technology became employee-owned in 2023, so we all take great pride in what we do and the business we have built. But, don’t just take our word for it…we might not be for you…but we’d love to have a call and find out if we are a fit and share how we can transform your product development journey.
For more information or to chat with one of our team about your product design and development requirements, please do not hesitate to get in touch:
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.
Sky’s the limit: Why Agri-TechE Should Engage with Drone Law Reform
Drones and autonomous flight technologies are set to revolutionise how we travel, deliver goods and produce food, and the government has taken note. As part of a comprehensive three-year review into the regulatory framework of autonomous flight and the use of drones, the Law Commission has launched a second consultation. Its three-year review is nearing completion with recommendations expected to be published by early 2026 and will shape how this fast-moving sector evolves. For innovators in agri-tech and beyond, the opportunity to help design the rules that will govern a sky filled with commercial drones is now.
Flying free from EU constraints
Legislative agility to facilitate innovation is the ambition and ties into the government’s wider economic growth agenda. Aviation law in the UK is prescriptive and duly geared towards the passenger aviation sector. With the UK no longer bound by EU aviation rules, policymakers can now craft a more bespoke, agile regulatory environment that encourages experimentation, accelerates innovation and attracts investment.
However, the government has identified a possible post-Brexit dividend as the current regulatory regime is largely a carryover from current EU law. This presents a unique opportunity to break away from legacy constraints and design a tailored regime for UK-specific innovations and ambitions. A more flexible regime could fast-track the safe deployment of cutting-edge drone technology and give UK-based companies a first-mover advantage, enabling them to export innovations globally.
Drones on farms: Unlocking agri-tech potential
Commercial applications of drone technology are wide ranging. For the food and agriculture sectors alone, drones could revolutionise farming operations:
Precision agriculture from monitoring crops based on thermal sensors to scanning fields and accurately predicting crop yields.
Agricultural sprays deploying pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides thereby reducing labour costs, use of chemicals and their environmental impacts, and identifying diseases or pests to prevent wider outbreaks.
Irrigation management by identifying drainage issues to drought stressed areas and enabling the more efficient use of water and real-time crop water requirements.
Crop insurance and assessment by providing accurate, unbiased and detailed imagery required by insurers to speed up claims processes.
Harvesting assistance by providing crop maturity assessments to more effectively plan harvesting schedules and boosting the quality of crop yields.
Forestry and orchard management by measuring canopy growth, quantifying tree populations and aiding pruning schedules.
The economic case for drone-powered agriculture
There are many economic benefits – from reduced labour and input costs through more precise allocation of resources, to increasing crop yields via data driven decision making. Lower chemical and water usage not only cuts costs but also supports environmental sustainability. For businesses able to make the capital investment, drone technology is set to become a core component of modern agricultural management, policymakers should be engaged on this.
Government support signals lift-off
There is clear momentum in government to embrace drone technologies. The aviation minister has confirmed £20 million in funding for new flight technologies, including £5m earmarked for the Future of Flight Challenge. These initiatives could create government-backed testbeds for agri-tech solutions and help de-risk businesses ready for investment. For innovators in the sector, this is a moment to engage directly with policymakers, to shape the regulatory framework and unlock the commercial potential of drone led farming. The Law Commission’s second consultation is open until 18 July 2025, and alongside a wider engagement programme, this is a key opportunity to have your voice heard and set the direction of travel for the sector.
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A large group of global agriculture and food chain experts have called for greater collaboration across the fertiliser industry to ensure future food security for a growing global population while reducing agriculture’s impact on soils and the wider environment.
The “Future of Fertiliser” report, commissioned by Anglo American and compiled by Deloitte, interviewed 74 industry experts from around the world to better understand what needs to change to ensure we can feed the world responsibly in 2050.
The report comes ahead of the annual conference of the International Fertiliser Association (IFA) whose CEO, Alzbeta Klein, was asked what she believed the focus of the annual conference would be in 25 years’ time. She said: “2050 will be more than just a meeting about fertilisers. It will be a global summit on the future of humanity’s relationship with food, nature and technology.”
Tom McCulley, CEO of Anglo American’s Crop Nutrients business, said: “There is no doubt in our minds that the future of agriculture has to be different if we are to produce more, better quality food more sustainably than we do today.
“The field of agriculture experts interviewed for this report – drawn from farmers to policymakers and major food-producing companies – agree with that reality. Together, they overwhelmingly concluded that we need to stop thinking about crop yields in isolation and instead focus on the long-term impact of many widely used fertilisers on our soils, the emissions from fertiliser production and use, and the nutritional value of the food we eat to ensure future generations have the legacy they deserve.”
Key insights from the report include that fertilisers, and the nutrients they provide, will continue to underpin agricultural success but their application must become more sustainable to preserve precious natural resources for the long term.
Specifically, the agricultural industry must stand up to redefine the metrics for success in the agricultural sector and better manage the often-competing balance of yield, soil health and responsible farming practices. Scalable crop nutrition solutions that efficiently use available nutrients across a broad range of crops to maximise return on investment must be a priority in this evolution – an important step away from historical wasteful practices, damaged soil and unnecessary emissions.
The report states that by embracing these shifts and seizing the opportunities they present, the sector can ensure that future fertiliser practices not only meet the growing demand for food but also contribute positively to the planet and future generations that will demand more and better-quality food.
Duncan Wanblad, Chief Executive of Anglo American, introduced the report by commenting: “The future of fertilisers must be one where crop solutions both nourish people and sustain the planet, building on the incredible successes of food production since the mid-20th century. Greater use of sustainable fertilisers has a vital role in increasing crop yield and resilience in parallel with protecting nature and improving soil health.”
The report also concluded that solutions and incentives needed to be tailored to the real day-to-day needs of farmers and that greater levels of trust and adoption of innovation are needed across the industry.
Those interviewed agreed that by 2050, regulation and financial incentives will have driven a transition in responsible agricultural practices, that will increasingly prioritise the importance of soil health. Achieving these changes will require the fertiliser industry itself to collaborate, focus on issues beyond yield, work more closely with farmers and internalise the environmental costs of fertiliser across the food value chain.
The report was commissioned by Anglo American and compiled by Deloitte through interviews with 74 industry experts. The full report can be downloaded here: http://uk.angloamerican.com/futureoffertiliser
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