UK Agri-Tech Centre has key role in tackling major agricultural challenges

The conference was held in Inverness on September 18-19 and UKATC chief executive Phil Bicknell, who chaired a panel session focusing on the agri-tech sector, said the organisation was uniquely placed to help the sector rise to the big challenges it faced.

He said: “I am looking forward to the inroads we can make in terms of the big issues in the industry, such as food security, net zero, sustainability, resilient supply chains, as well as the wider climate change agenda.”

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And Mr Bicknell echoed one of the defining themes of the conference, with many speakers calling for the gap between academic research and on-farm application to be bridged.

He added: “Having a mindset of what the problems are that we want to fix is really important. Creating agri-tech solutions that meet the needs of the farming industry is key.”

The biannual event was spearheaded by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), alongside Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and brought together key global players from across the sector.

Dennis Overton, speaking in his capacity as chair of the West Highland-based natural capital business, Ardtornish, said evolving technological capabilities and connectivity were driving the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, and he called for more to be done to disseminate farm-based data throughout the supply chain.

And he went on to praise the impact UKATC was having.

He said: “Agri-tech is an enabler of so many different things and the UK Agri-Tech Centre is a great example of something being more than the sum of its parts.”

For Dave Ross, international development director at UKATC and a member of the conference organising committee, the ability of the event to bring together animal health, aquaculture and agri-tech leaders in one space was key.

He said: “UKATC is keen to play its part in engaging the commercial sector and wider stakeholders, be they academic or otherwise, to develop the vibrant ecosystem we have seen here in Inverness.

“To have international delegations from Argentina and China at the event has been incredibly positive as we have sought to showcase the access and opportunities that exist here in Scotland, whether it is in our agricultural, agri-tech or aquaculture sectors.”

Martin Sutcliffe, innovation lead for aquaculture at UKATC and a fellow member of the organising committee, said the focus on his sector at the event had been refreshing.

He said: “It was so encouraging to see aquaculture framed alongside food production, which often is not the case. To see it positioned in that way and its wider role acknowledged was great to see.”

For more information about the work UK Agri-Tech Centre does, visit www.ukagritechcentre.com