Knowledge Base Post Type: Member News

Norfolk-based Clean-Tech Start-up WATR secure £75,000 funding through Anglia Capital Group

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Anglia Capital Group Anglia Capital Group
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

After an impressive pitch to the Angel Investors from Anglia Capital Group, WATR successfully secured funding for their clean-tech start-up.

The founders of WATR came to the Angels with a clear mission for their business – to use technology to improve water conditions across the globe. Their long-term ambition is for WATR to become the early warning system for water quality globally and to have units in every country in the world by 2024.

Water is the most valuable resource on the planet. With the environment and climate at the top of many minds right now, especially with the recent COP26 summit, WATR managed to strike a chord with the group as they could clearly see the need for this innovative new product. In conjunction with their partners at New Anglia Capital, Anglia Capital Group were able to assist WATR to raise a total of £75,000 for their seed round.

“When WATR pitched to our members they were immediately impressed by the mission to improve water conditions around the world. Businesses with a focus on sustainability are increasingly seeing success in gaining early-stage funding as more of our members seek to invest in companies which are having a positive impact on the environment. We wish WATR every success for the future and look forward to seeing them go from strength to strength” Hannah Smith, Managing Director, Anglia Capital Group.

Based in one of Norfolk’s technology hubs, the Hethel Engineering Centre (run by Hethel Innovation), the team at WATR have developed a product which can provide the customer with a live time data feed to an app or dashboard so they may observe parameters such as water temperature, ORP, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity and chlorophyll amongst others.

“We are extremely excited to see WATR’s vision and product quality be recognised by investors. Their success and focus on improving and protecting our environment is incredibly inspiring and we are proud to have them as a member of our innovative community of businesses at Hethel Innovation. We can’t wait to see what is next for the team and see their growth continue.” Imogen Shipperlee, Innovation Manager, Hethel Innovation.

WATR App Screenshot

WATR App Screenshot

WATR are now gaining recognition across the industry and have recently been selected as double finalists in the “World changing ideas” and “On the rise categories” in the Fast Company’s 2021 awards.

“WATR has had an extremely exciting year. We made new product enhancements to WATR, added new accessories and opened a new market with Soil Monitoring. We are currently working on a number of projects with different water companies, a large environmental project in Devon, as well as working with SME’s and fisheries. We are now generating enquiries globally and the level of interest in the product in the last three months has been phenomenal. It’s fantastic that after four years of intense development that we are starting to realise our mission, to improve water conditions around the globe. As a business we are extremely committed to the region and to have investment support from local investors has enabled us to accelerate our growth.” Glyn Cotton, Co-Founder, WATR

In an exciting new development WATR have recently launched their new product TERA which enables farmers and agriculturalists to utilise the power of real-time soil condition data to improve crop conditions, reduce costs and to create more efficient farming and agricultural solutions.

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. Take 2 mins to learn more.

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This story has been submitted by an Agri-TechE member.

23rd January 2023
Anglia Capital Group Anglia Capital Group
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Are Eggs the New Bitcoin? Stable Reflect

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Stable Stable
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

It’s no secret that food prices have surged in the past year.  Supply chain issues, geopolitical tensions, disease, and more have affected inflation for several commodities – most notably eggs.  According to the latest December Consumer Price Index, prices were up nearly 60% compared to a year earlier.  A prolonged stint of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) last year affected the industry more than expected, tightening supplies and inflating prices.  However, that trend is starting to soften.

Wholesale egg prices began to decline in late December as consumer demand retreated from its holiday levels.  After peaking at $5.38 a dozen for large shell eggs, they have dropped to a combined regional average of $4.70 as of Jan. 13, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service.  Increased supplies are affecting wholesale prices as retail prices remain at historically high levels.

The price of large, carton eggs decreased 73 cents to $3.86 per dozen on the New York Market, USDA reported in its latest weekly Egg Markets Overview.  Prices paid to producers in the Midwest fell 75 cents to $3.68. The California benchmark declined 65 cents to $6.72 per dozen.  Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon to find conventional eggs going for more than $10 per dozen at local New York City markets.

A mix of market factors happened all at once to get to this point.  Jada Thompson, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness at the University of Arkansas, said higher feed prices, seasonal demand spikes, transportation issues, and general inflation had a hand to play, but highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as the bird flu, was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The virus, which sickens and kills poultry, spread to several commercial egg houses last year, affecting more than 42 million poultry, USDA data show.  Migratory waterfowl act as hosts to the virus each year, affecting the egg, chicken, and turkey industries, usually until the warmer, summer months when the number of cases dissipate.  However, 2022 was different.

“It was different because it didn’t go away,” Thompson said.  While the number of birds affected slowed during the warmer months, a resurgence occurred in the fall and has continued to infect flocks in the U.S. and around the world, including severe outbreaks in Asia and Europe.

The removal of millions of layers, pullets, and breeders from the egg system significantly hampered production and tightened domestic supplies.  As a result of recurrent outbreaks, U.S. egg inventories were 29% lower in the last week of December compared to the start of 2022. Add the rising costs of inflation, transportation and supply chain issues spurred by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, various rail strikes, and the holiday season, where many people are making deviled eggs or baking cakes and pies, and that translates to historically high prices, Thompson said.

The phenomenon has created a frenzy of memes on social media, with users declaring eggs a luxury item.  Genevieve Roch-Decter, the chief executive officer of Grit Capital, said that eggs were the “new bitcoin” and posted a chart of skyrocketing prices on Twitter.

Although prices remain elevated at retailers, recent data show prices starting to weaken at the wholesale level as birds are replenished and more supplies come online.  Whether they can come down to pre-2022 levels is anyone’s guess, Thompson said.

“It’s an unprecedented animal health event that is ongoing and everyone is adjusting to it,” she said.

As part of her research, Thompson wrote about the impact of catastrophic events on farmers, from loss of income and additional operational costs to mental health effects.  Finding a positive case on the farm can be devastating, she said.  At the producer level, many are asking themselves what adjustments can be made to assist with bird replenishment and what the short- and long-term price dynamics will be, Thompson said.

“The industry is trying to address this preemptively,” she said.  Some are looking to buy eggs in much larger quantities as prices become more favorable, while others are biting their nails, Thompson said.

Prior to last year, the worst poultry health emergency in the U.S. was from 2014 to 2015, when there were 50 HPAI outbreaks in commercial layer chicken flocks, affecting 43 million birds.  Wholesale prices surged during this period and declined sharply the following year, remaining at or below $2 per carton until 2022.

Historically, HPAI is considered a seasonal disease, but last year, it never went away.  Michael Nepveux, Stable’s senior protein analyst, said most outbreaks in the U.S. happen when birds migrate in the spring, which is just around the corner.

“It looks like we have the potential for HPAI to become more of just a regular part of producers’ lives instead of a black swan event that occurs, say, once in a decade,” Nepveux said.  “If producers are able to restock their flocks and keep any new outbreaks out, we may see some relief in egg prices.  However, egg prices could be in for another rocky year.”

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20th January 2023
Stable Stable
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Barclays Eagle Labs chosen to help turbocharge next generation of UK tech stars

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Barclays Eagle Labs Barclays Eagle Labs
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Barclays Eagle Labs has been awarded a new grant to boost small and scaling tech businesses in all corners of the UK.

Estimates suggest strengthening regional tech industries could grow the UK’s digital sector by an additional £41.5 billion by 2025 and create 678,000 jobs.

The £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant builds on more than £42.2 million invested by the government to support tech start-ups and scale-ups since 2016.

Combined investment from Eagle Labs and the government will increase support for the tech sector so more than 22,000 businesses can benefit, with at least 80 per cent based outside London.

Barclays Eagle Labs has expertly delivered growth programmes, business mentoring and events to start-ups and scale-ups since 2015. Their growing network already supports businesses from Aberdeen and Belfast to Cardiff and Cumbria through 38 physical sites, as well as virtually across the country.

Together with best-in-class business support experts, Eagle Labs will create effective local networks to help tech businesses wherever they are in the country.

Eagle Labs and industry partners will provide specialist support, funded by the Digital Growth Grant, for founders from underserved communities – for example expanding access to their growth programmes for Black and female founded businesses.

The grant will fund training resources and opportunities for entrepreneurs, including a Learning Management System providing virtual training to over 10,000 businesses and training modules created for young people to inspire the next generation of UK entrepreneurs.

Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said:

We want to unlock the potential of the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups and boost tech businesses in all corners of the country.

Barclays Eagle Labs are digital industry experts and will help tens of thousands of tech firms and founders to achieve their dreams and create jobs and economic growth.

The Digital Growth Grant was awarded following an open competition and rigorous assessment process. The Barclays Eagle Labs bid represented the best value for taxpayers’ money as the full grant will be allocated to supporting the UK tech ecosystem, with Eagle Labs absorbing all operational and people costs associated with delivering the programme of activity.

It will enable Eagle Labs to launch new programmes to grow tech businesses as well as increasing access to Eagle Labs’ existing services. The funding will double the number of mentoring sessions offered to tech firms to 1,500 a year.

The independent panel assessing applications concluded Eagle Labs was uniquely positioned to deliver targeted support across the country. A bespoke regional partnership programme will ensure funding and training reflects the challenges digital businesses are facing in their area.

Amanda Allan, Director of Barclays Eagle Labs, said:

Eagle Labs’ vision is to make the UK tech sector an engine for growth and for the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a tech business

Through the Digital Growth Grant, we’re excited to double down to reach more businesses across the country with our best-in-class business growth programmes and bespoke regional support.

We have a track record of supporting over 8000 start-ups and high-growth businesses since we launched in 2015 and we’re proud that, due to our established Eagle Labs network, we can pass through all grant funds to our delivery partners and programmes, helping to maximise the impact of the grant in supporting the UK tech ecosystem.

Tech Nation will continue to deliver remaining DCMS grant funding until March 2023. The Digital Growth Grant will be awarded to Barclays Eagle Labs from April 2023 and will fund activity until March 2025.

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20th January 2023
Barclays Eagle Labs Barclays Eagle Labs
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Veganuary: can vertical farming help to provide alternative protein?

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LettUs Grow Ltd. LettUs Grow Ltd.
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

It’s Veganuary! Where for the month of January, people are encouraged to try out or adopt a vegan diet. Since there aren’t a huge amount of seasonal fruits and vegetables to play with, we’re not sure the first month of the year is the best time to go vegan. However, this does reflect how consumers expect to be able to access any and all food at any time – and this now includes being able to eat meat, without actually eating meat. In this article, we look at the rising popularity of protein alternatives and how vertical farming technology might be able to help with the protein transition. 

Whether it be to reduce their carbon footprint, make better choices for the planet, or for animal welfare reasons, many are choosing to reduce or remove meat from their diets. In doing so, there has become an increased demand for alternative protein sources. Alternative proteins can include “fake meats” sourced from plants such as soya, pea proteins or lentils, as well as from fungi, or less commonly,  tissue cultures, or the consumption of insects.

Even in the past couple of years, the popularity of “fake meat” has soared, with many food manufacturers and well known restaurants or fast food chains adding meat-free options to their menus. According to a market report by Statistica, the consumption of meat vs alternative protein consumption is trending towards a 40/60 split – in favour of alternatives.

Composition of the meat alternatives market wordwide - data sourced from Statistica

But if moving away from meat consumption for environmental and ethical reasons, we must also make sure that the alternative we’re now being offered isn’t harmful in other ways. Whilst the US Beyond Meat burger claims to produce 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a beef burger, carbon emissions aren’t the only means of calculating environmental impact. We should also make sure that the methods of production aren’t playing into existing agricultural issues: such as pesticide use, water pollution, deforestation, or monocultures.

It’s widely agreed that eating more plants has health benefits for both people and the planet. If we want people to actually increase the proportion of plants in their diet, food producers should make sure we’re increasing the availability of plant proteins like legumes, rather than simply diverting existing sources away from consumption in their whole form to make meat alternatives. That is – in order to see benefits, we need consumers to replace their meat burger with a bean burger, rather than replacing beans with bean burgers. 

As an emerging industry, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and vertical farming could be in a unique position to help. Since vertical farms are still in development themselves, they have the potential flexibility to increase the amount of protein alternatives we are growing and to adapt to the demands of an emerging market, whilst also bringing good sustainability credentials – such as using less space, less water and removing the need for pesticides. Below, we explore some of the ways that CEA could support the alternative protein market. 

Propagation in vertical farms 

Growing crops used for alternative protein in a controlled environment, such as a vertical farm or greenhouse, is largely unexplored. As one example, propagating peas within a controlled environment could be explored as a way of increasing the amount of peas grown, without diverting the supply from existing sources – whilst minimising the resources used.

It doesn’t always make sense to use vertical farming for an entire growth cycle. In the case of pea protein, the cost of growth for this relatively low value crop would be far too high, since growing to seed would take an entire year. It is sometimes more resource, space or energy efficient to use vertical farming for only part of the process. Propagation is the part of the process where CEA is likely to benefit the production of alternative proteins most. 

Propagating using aeroponics can often produce larger and healthier crops which could be more likely to survive transplanting into soil. LettUs Grow are currently exploring this with crops such as tomatoes and tree whips, but there is the potential that plants used as alternative proteins, such as soy, pea, amaranth, chickpea, rapeseed, water lentil and lupin might also benefit from being propagated in this way. 

Biofortification 

There are some health concerns surrounding fake meat – especially when they’re replacing meat as part of a vegan diet. These processed foods can often be perceived as “healthier” simply because they are associated with being “plant-based.” But though they are often higher in salt, studies have found that typically they have a higher nutrient performance, or there is no difference, to the foods they are replacing – it all depends on what is being added. 

However, there are specific micronutrients that are more difficult to get using plant based ingredients, such as iron. CEA offers the opportunity to grow biofortified foods, in order to provide specific nutrients and make these vitamins or minerals more easily digestible. This could be done many ways, including through genetics, with breeding (though this can take an extraordinarily long time) or through gene editing, to alter the nutritional composition of the crops. 

At LettUs Grow we have also begun work to see how we can impact the nutritional composition of crops by optimising the environmental conditions: using aeroponic irrigation systems to deliver specific nutrients to the crops during the growth stage, in order to increase the concentration of the specified nutrients or vitamins in foods. In doing so, it might be possible to increase the nutritional value of alternative proteins and deliver vitamins or minerals that might otherwise only be found in animal products.

Circular thinking  

Another concept that is under explored is how we can join together different production methods to create a more circular food system. This can help to reduce physical waste and loss of resources, such as energy, in our supply chains.

Since both the alternative protein and vertical farming sectors are in their infancy, there could be an opportunity for circular thinking principles to be included in earlier design phases. For example, this could allow systems such as insect farms, aquaculture and plant growth to be linked to make use of waste streams from one process in another. 

The future of protein alternatives

Our food system is broken. The main problem with introducing alternative foods into our supply chains, is that this doesn’t automatically fix any systematic issues. If we want to offer these alternatives, we must make sure that the processes creating them are not damaging. Only by looking at our food systems as a whole will we create real, lasting change. Otherwise we risk replacing one problem with another. This will include introducing alternative proteins, but also making improvements to the animal farming industry. 

New agricultural technologies, such as vertical farming and aeroponics, can certainly help to support the growth of alternative proteins, but it cannot be considered a quick fix to the deeply embedded and nuanced issues surrounding eating meat. Yet it is exciting to begin to imagine how CEA might be able to support and make a reality of innovative solutions to our food system issues – we’re just at the beginning! 

If you want to chat about how vertical farming could work with and impact different industries, then reach out to our business development team, who would love to hear from you. Get in touch here. 

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This story has been submitted by an Agri-TechE member.

19th January 2023
LettUs Grow Ltd. LettUs Grow Ltd.
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Beans IN toast could revolutionise British diet

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The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Scientists are aiming to revolutionise British diets by slipping more UK-grown beans into our daily bread.

See Professor Julie Lovegrove introducing the project here: Raising the Pulse with Professor Julie Lovegrove | University of Reading – YouTube

Researchers and chefs at the University of Reading aim to encourage British consumers and food producers to switch to bread containing faba beans (commonly known as broad beans), making it healthier and less damaging to the environment.

The £2 million, three-year, publicly-funded ‘Raising the Pulse’ project has officially begun and is announced today (18 January 2023) in the Nutrition Bulletin journal.

Five teams of researchers within the University of Reading, along with members of the public, farmers, industry, and policy makers, are now working together to bring about one of the biggest changes to UK food in generations.

This is by increasing pulses in the UK diet, particularly faba beans, due to their favourable growing conditions in the UK and the sustainable nutritional enhancement they provide.

Despite being an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous imported soya bean, used currently in bread as an improver, the great majority of faba beans grown in the UK go to animal feed at present.

Researchers are optimising the sustainability and nutritional quality of beans grown here, with a view to encouraging farmers to switch some wheat producing land to faba bean for human consumption.

Faba beans are particularly high in easily digested protein, fibre, and iron, nutrients that can be low in UK diets. But the majority of people are not used to cooking and eating faba beans, which poses a major challenge.

Professor Julie Lovegrove is leading the ‘Raising the Pulse’ research programme. She said: “We had to think laterally: What do most people eat and how can we improve their nutrition without them having to change their diets? The obvious answer is bread!

“96% of people in the UK eat bread, and 90% of that is white bread, which in most cases contains soya. We’ve already performed some experiments and found that faba bean flour can directly replace imported soya flour and some of the wheat flour, which is low in nutrients. We can not only grow the faba beans here, but also produce and test the faba bean-rich bread, with improved nutritional quality.”

‘Raising the Pulse’ is a multidisciplinary programme of research, funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, as part of their ‘Transforming UK Food Systems’ initiative.

As well as consulting and working with members of disadvantaged communities, there will be studies using our novel foods at the University of Reading’s students halls of residence and catering outlets.

This links ‘Raising the Pulse’ with Matt Tebbit, who runs the University’s catering service and leads the University’s ‘Menus for Change’ research programme. He said: “Students will be asked to rate products made or enriched with faba bean, such as bread, flat bread, and hummus. They will be asked questions about how full they felt, for how long and their liking of the foods. It is hoped that faba bean will improve satiety, as well as providing enhanced nutritional benefits in products that are enjoyable to eat.”

Before there are products to be tested, the beans must be grown, harvested and milled. ‘Raising the Pulse’ seeks to improve these stages as well. Researchers will be choosing or breeding varieties that are healthful as well as high yielding, working with the soil to improve yield via nitrogen fixing bacteria, mitigating environmental impacts of farming faba beans, planning for the changing climate, and more.

Watch this space…

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This story has been submitted by an Agri-TechE member.

18th January 2023
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Gardin and Enza Zaden strengthen relationship

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Gardin Ltd Gardin Ltd
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

Understanding how crops respond to environmental stress is crucial to developing high performance varieties and growing crops profitably. No one knows this better than at Enza Zaden, who constantly strive to produce resilient varieties at scale for growers all over the world.

Gardin is thrilled to announce that, after the completion of a successful trial in September 2022, Enza Zaden has the intention to expand our collaboration across their facilities in the Netherlands and Spain in 2023.

Dr. Chiara Volpi, senior researcher at Enza, said:

“We tested the Gardin technology on some of our breeding lines. Being able to see how the plants respond to stress in real-time has been very valuable for understanding their potential. Not only this will make us aware of stress well before it becomes visible; it will also provide an objective and quantifiable way of understanding the effect of variability in the environment and of differences between varieties, as well as the efficacy of treatments. The Gardin platform measured crucial parameters of plant performance completely autonomously and directly where the plants grew without the need for any intervention from our team. This, together with the analytics capabilities provided by the Gardin team, enabled us to gather important data from our research experiments aimed at accelerating variety development”

Expanding our collaboration offers great potential for both organisations. Dr. Fabrizio Ticchiarelli-Marjot, Gardin’s lead biologist commented:

“Chiara and Duy are world class scientists, and working with them and Enza Zaden has been an absolute delight. We were able to observe unforeseen patterns in the way some vegetable crop varieties responded to abiotic stress and we hope these insights will aid Enza Zaden in bringing these crops to market as soon as possible. What excites me the most about next year is that we will be expanding the range of species we will work on together, helping as many people at Enza Zaden as possible. This will not only accelerate their pipelines, but also ensure Gardin’s predictive analytics is trained from the very start on some of the most innovative crops that will reach the market. This will put us in a great place to serve as many commercial growers as possible, all over the world.”

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14th January 2023
Gardin Ltd Gardin Ltd
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Ag-drive app wins two awards at LAMMA 2023

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Agri-TechE

This content is hosted by Agri-TechE as part of its service to its members. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual/organisation that supplied the content and not those of Agri-TechE or its employees. This content is hosted by Agri-TechE as part of its service to its members. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual/organisation that supplied the content and not those of Agri-TechE or its employees. Ag-drive, the app that helps agricultural contractors and farmers to manage their businesses more efficiently, has won gold in the digital category of the LAMMA Innovation Awards 2023, and the LAMMA Founders Trophy for the best overall innovation at the Show.

The increasingly popular app, developed by farmer and contractor Will Dunn, is used by businesses of all sizes who want to replace time-consuming paperwork with digital job records, timesheets, field mapping, health and safety checks, and integrated invoicing with common accounting software.

Ag-drive founder, Will Dunn, says “Ag-drive makes every job accountable and traceable. Input and labour costs are increasing year on year, so having a quick and simple way to track and record jobs, and invoice regularly, means businesses can better manage their cash flow and even increase income through more efficient and accurate invoicing.

“We are delighted to have won gold in the LAMMA Innovation Awards. Since we launched the Ag-drive app we have committed to continually improving the platform, and have regularly introduced new and improved features thanks to customer feedback.

“In the past six months we improved job recording features for multiple operators, invoice approval on the app, and added more accounting package integrations. Ag-drive can now be used with Quickbooks, Sage, and Xero.

“We have a vast range of businesses using the app across the world, from farms of all sizes to large and small contractors, and non-farm businesses who find the app’s job recording and integrated invoicing features ideal for their needs.”

The Ag-drive app is available on both iPhone and Android smartphones and has been designed for simplicity to support all users. A web version is also available and is mainly used for invoicing and processing time/job sheet information.

A free 14-day trial gives users the ability to try all the features before committing to a monthly subscription from £10 per month, depending on the size of their team. New subscribers get their first month free with discount code JAN23.

Visit Ag-drive at LAMMA, Hall 20, Stand 20.360.

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12th January 2023
Agri-TechE Agri-TechE
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Digital Farm Management

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Marketing in a recession

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KISS Communications KISS Communications
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

We all know your marketing budget can be in danger during a recession, even though history very clearly shows brands that continue to invest strongly in marketing do better during a recession and are in a stronger position as things improve.

So, what should marketers do?

Firstly, be very clear what you stand for: your brand, your beliefs, your offers, your benefit ladders, and the strong products you have that really back that up. If it all feels me-too or a bit woolly, work hard to tighten this.

Secondly, avoid the rabbit-in-the-headlights situation. Have a strong plan for 2023 and beyond: enduring key messages, focused quarterly campaigns, and clear and realistic KPIs (perhaps revised to reflect new realities). In your plan you might stop trying to do everything for everybody: specify the products or markets where you see strength and opportunity and others where you’ll do less, to focus resources and cut distraction. Name them and explain why.

You might show low-budget creativity:

  • Could you develop new, low-cost marketing partnerships, for example with not-for-profits in the right key markets?
  • Mine your organisation: are there ‘back door’ opportunities to get your name out there? For example, are you really maximising your existing partnerships, or your Board members’ personal networks?

You should seriously consider taking a leaf from Reckitt Benckiser in 2008/09, famously outperforming competitors and growing revenue by 8% and profits by 14% while competitors saw a 10% average fall in profits by treating advertising as the investment it is, upping ad spend by 25% when others cut it. Are there, for example, media-buy bargains right now to drive more sales of highly profitable products and widen reach? And remember: PR history shows that those who continue to invest time in media relations when things are tough and headcounts falling (in marketing departments and newsrooms) get far more coverage than their competitors, during and after a recession.

Thirdly, be proactive about those who say, ‘we shouldn’t be shouting about how great we are – people are suffering!’ Do this not by hiding but through communications that are shrewd and empathetic. Shrewd because you start from your core beliefs, so there’s logic to where, why and how your brand speaks, some link to a genuine current need met by your product. Empathetic because it’s correctly framed: for example, ban press releases where your brand is ‘excited to announce’ something and find ways to offer genuine support or helpful advice to groups that may be struggling.

Fourthly, inflation is with us too… don’t demand unrealistic salary raises for your team: but do strengthen internal comms and spend the marketing people-budget wisely as inflation hits. If you can’t offer 10%-plus wage rises, make sure to share internally:

  • That there is a clear plan with explicit, achievable KPIs
  • Thank yous for hard work
  • A reminder of all the other employee benefits and development opportunities you do offer, that make yours a great place to work.

Make sure to develop this plan in efficient consultation with key groups like sales teams and your FD. Then share it widely, and make sure the rest of marketing does.

You may still face budget cuts, but this approach I’ve outlined should make that less likely. A clear and well-known plan shows how marketing is essential to hitting company KPIs and can only do good for the profile of marketing internally, for staff retention, and your own sense of purpose day-to-day.

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9th January 2023
KISS Communications KISS Communications
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Ipswich: Suffolk New College rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted

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Suffolk New College Suffolk New College
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

A college in Ipswich has turned its Ofsted rating around by being graded ‘Good’ with an ‘Outstanding’ element, three years after a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating.

Suffolk New College in Ipswich has been rated ‘Good’ for the first time since 2017, with personal development being recognised as ‘outstanding’.

In all other areas Ofsted inspect, the college was rated as good, with inspectors praising the college throughout the report.

The report stated that learners “enjoy their time at the college and value the new skills and knowledge that they learn.“

It also stated “learners work in a calm environment” and “demonstrate high levels of tolerance and respect for tutors and for each other.”

Tutors were highlighted as “encouraging students to use technical and professional terminology’ and ‘plan units so that learners and apprentices gain skills and knowledge in a logical order.”

Principal Viv Gillespie said: “We believe we are on a journey to outstanding and the encouragement everyone received on the back of our latest inspection result gives us all the desire and drive to continue this forward momentum.

“We would like to thank students, staff, stakeholders, parents, governors, business partners and all of the community for their efforts in helping us to achieve this outcome.

“We are very pleased to receive the positive feedback, but we won’t be resting on our laurels.

“We are all hungry for more success.”

Chair of governors, Stephen Pugh said: “Suffolk New College has been making great progress in recent years as we have expanded our offer and met the needs of ever more learners and employers.

“It is terrific news to have this progress recognised by Ofsted and be graded as a good college.”

The report stated that “governors have a good understanding of the local and regional skills needs”, and they “provide support and guidance on the emerging new skills and the technical equipment that learners will use”.

The college, which has 4,740 learners and apprentices on their books, had its inspection between November 15 and 18.

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6th January 2023
Suffolk New College Suffolk New College
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MBA Agribusiness

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ARU Writtle ARU Writtle
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

This unique and innovative MBA in Agribusiness with a specific focus on regenerative food systems equips entrepreneurial and strategically focused individuals with the skills to lead and drive sustained growth in the developing food sector. The programme focuses on connections between agri-food businesses, regenerative farming and hybrid production to promote environmental transformation.

Our MBA has been developed with embedded theoretical ‘threads’ linking all modules together to deliver a systems-based approach to circular economics and socio-environmental wellbeing. These ‘threads’ include entrepreneurialism, economic awareness, capability building, emerging business paradigms, environmental sustainability and ecosystem services framework.

Whether you want to operate nationally or internationally, as part of a larger organisation, within a SME or lead your own business start-up, this course will provide you will be skills to take you to the next level in your career development.

MBA Agribusiness – Writtle University College

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4th January 2023
ARU Writtle ARU Writtle
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Brown&Co are delivering the Future Farming Resilience Fund for Defra

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Brown & Co Brown & Co
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.

This Defra funded project enables Brown&Co to provide free farm support to farmers up until March 2025. The support will help farmers prepare for the 7 year Agricultural Transition period, which will see the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) reduce to zero after 2027.

We have worked with hundreds of farmers over the past 2 years delivering the initial phases of this project. Our service is based on a one to one on farm approach and has enabled support to be delivered directly to over 1400 farmers and many hundreds more through remote and digital engagements. We have worked with farmers across all of England and with all farm types.

In this new phase we have widened our offer as a result of farmer feedback to provide greater focus and specialist advice to support their businesses.

We believe our enhanced multi-disciplinary offer to farmers is unique. With Land, Planning, Commercial and Agri-business divisions all under one roof, we are able to provide professional support across a range of disciplines delivered from our in-house teams. Whether it is finding a commercial use for a disused barn, investigating planning potential, managing business finances, working collaboratively with neighbours, producing a Greenhouse gas footprint or chatting through your business options going forward Brown&Co can support you on this journey.

We will continue to offer a business review delivered through an on-farm visit. Our advisors will provide farmers with the knowledge to make positive decisions, create a forward plan and support their business to adapt and succeed through a challenging transition period.

Alongside this business review, in addition we are offering 6 areas of greater focus. These can all be tailored to individual needs and can be delivered after an initial business review or as standalone advice. These reviews are available to farmers who have worked with Brown&Co or with other providers in the previous phase of the project as well as new farmers who wish to work with us going forward. These 6 interventions are:

  • Supporting businesses to manage the present and plan for change through applying budgeting and business planning tools.
  • Supporting technology adoption and grant access, benchmarking performance and facilitating collaborations to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
  • Identifying land or property that could generate new income or capital injections. Offering support and opinion to progress change.
  • Assessing land based natural capital assets, identifying potential for enhancement and securing new income streams. Understanding how woodland, water and biodiversity can generate income as part of producing an environmental strategy for the business.
  • Supporting tenants to deliver new diversifications, plan for land expansion or land reduction, work effectively with landlords and plan for succession.
  • Supporting farmers to produce a GHG baseline and action plan to reduce GHG emissions and position for carbon income streams.

The Brown&Co team are working across all of England with all farmers and farm types including arable, livestock, mixed farms, root crops and diversified businesses.

Details of participating farmers are all completely anonymous and advice will be kept entirely confidential.
To be eligible for support farmers must have a single business identifier (SBI).

We would encourage sign up early into the scheme as we envisage high demand and limited places. Once signed up we can mutually agree at what point in the future you would most value your support to be delivered.

Sign up on this link: https://www.brown-co.com/services/agricultural/future-farming-resilience-fund

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1st January 2023
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Tailwater Newsletter: Special Innovation Issue

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Tailwater Systems Tailwater Systems
The views expressed in this Member News article are the author's own and do not necessarily represent those of Agri-TechE.
Special Innovation IssueThis issue of the newsletter will focus on Innovation in the water treatment area. Innovation is measured by the rate of new product/service introductions. Innovation is often driven by R&D spending (of all types). Why is this relevant? Because innovation is what brings new value to our customers via more effective water treatment solutions. R&D spending should be creating the next generation platforms for innovation. 
Where Should You Look for Innovative Products?
Not the Big Companies In our experience, we see that many of the companies in the water treatment industry have well established products, stable cost structures, but very low R&D spending of 2-3% of sales, by our simple estimate from 10K filings with the SEC. A likely culprit is the so-called “innovators dilemma”, a concept developed by Professor Clayton Christiansen and made popular in his books and publications. Established companies are prone to disruption as they try to hold on to existing markets and products rather than embrace disruptive technologies and new approaches. We also examined one of the largest publicly traded companies in the water treatment industry for their interest in agriculture- our focus. Their annual report, called a 10-K, mentions agriculture exactly one time. Our takeaway: they know nothing about the needs of agriculture. So if you are a grower and expecting one of these large companies to solve your nitrate, salt, or other issues in a new way, you may be waiting for a very long time. Small Companies Are Your Partner Small companies, like Tailwater Systems, should be part of your R&D strategy moving forward as you attempt to become more sustainable and profitable. We spend much of our time looking for disruptive and innovative ways to solve the agricultural industry’s water problems. Further, we are staunch adherents to “open innovation“- based on the understanding that all the smart people don’t work for your company and you should seek to work with external partners to find truly breakthrough solutions. In the next paragraphs, we’ll provide some background on a few of our explorations.
The Nitrate Example
Nitrate- Remove or Recycle? Lets Do Both Our patented nitrate removal system is the most effective way to remove nitrate from water. When developing this product, we first talked to leading experts in California’s ag industry about the attributes of a solution. Their inputs lead us to some basic design parameters:SimplicityMobilityNo secondary waste stream (this ruled out RO and ion exchange)Can be managed by existing staffCost effectiveNo exotic or difficult technologies This left biological approaches for nitrate removal as the remaining choice (for now). Using some principles of open innovation we began to search for any industry that removes nitrate from water. This lead us to the wastewater treatment industry, commercial fish farming, aquarium management, and a number of other un-related industries. We also learned quickly that this approach was considered by the “experts” as challenging and difficult to manage. Our early experiments showed this as a shibboleth. We rapidly figured out how to manage this technology. We looked at nitrate recycling technologies. One of the sadder things we found was a beautiful piece of equipment that was designed to recover nitrate from drainage water. It never did work longer than a day or so according to the customer. It used all existing technology. It had been sitting in a field, unattended, for a long time. We looked at specific enzyme solutions as nitrate reduction is done by cellular enzymes. This technique might work but the cost to the customer might be prohibitive and did not see a way to reduce the cost. We did see some companies attempt this but it did not catch on due to high cost (from what we were told). They were not cost-competitive with us.  Part of the problem with the nitrate ion is that its very stable in water, does not react with many common chemicals, does not precipitate easily, but can be adsorbed to some degree. The key to the biological treatment was that nitrate reducing bacteria had evolved over millennia to break this specific molecule down into nitrogen gas and return the gas to the atmosphere. We just had to figure out how to isolate these nitrate reducing bacteria into a very densely populated, enclosed reactor. We found a paper written in the first decade of the 1900s that showed how to isolate this bacteria using a mason jar and 1 chemical. We tried this recipe and it worked the first time. This isolation and concentration technique is now part of our standard bioreactor startup process. After spending many exasperating months looking for ways to recycle nitrate (remove it from the water and enable customers to reuse it), we hit upon a simple idea. Can we change nitrate into something else that is easier to remove? It turns out that the answer is yes. It is possible to convert nitrate into ammonia. Ammonia is easy to remove from water and can be used in irrigation. Is it economical? We’ll find out shortly as we move forward with this. Are we trying to sabotage our own flagship product? Not exactly. We think having both options will help our customers close the loop and put an end to fugitive emissions of nitrate into our ecosystems. County, regional, and State governments will now have two ways rehabilitating nitrate contaminated aquifers, waterways, ponds, and lakes. 
Salt Removal
Sodium chloride, one of most common salts, is very difficult to remove from water. In order to truly understand this, one can return to first principles (i.e. physics) and one of the Feynman lectures. We get sodium and chloride into our water systems from a variety of sources including agricultural nutrient salts. The problem becomes two fold- since salt separates into sodium and chloride in water, we’ll need a different approach to remove each component. Yes, there are other types of salts but our focus is primarily on sodium and chloride for their well documented damage to soils (sodium) and chloride (plant damage and yield reduction). For chloride removal, we found a clue in the corrosion of iron rebar in reinforced concrete. You might remember the horrific collapse of the condominium(s) in Miami (Florida, USA) recently. We worked with a very progressive, large company to see how this approach might be used to remove chloride from water. It worked extremely well but required a specialized process. We’ve filed patents on our approach to chloride removal. This material is not specific to chloride but will do the job. Time will tell if this is the right approach. Our team’s prior experience in bio-technology also suggested that perhaps we might be able to find or design a molecular cage- a man made structure that would bind to chloride exclusively with high affinity (strength of the bond between chloride and another molecule). Sure enough, we found a recent discovery that performs this exact function. How close is it to commercialization? Not sure yet.
Summary
First, we want to thank all of our customers for their continued support in 2022 and look forward to bringing innovative solutions to you in coming years. Got a problem that does not appear to have a solution? Contact us- we’ll take a look, apply our open innovation principles, and see if we can help you solve the problem.

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19th December 2022
Tailwater Systems Tailwater Systems
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