UK Agri-tech Summit - Innovate, Prove, Sell

Phil Clement, Head of Inward Investment at Gloucestershire County Council, attended a panel session at the UK Agri-tech Summit in London on 1 October

Entitled 'Innovate, Prove, Sell' to hear about future trends in the sector and the role investors and the government can play in helping to shape this. A key priority is for the country's farmers to be more productive and farm in secure and sustainable way.

Data management and the use of precision systems was seen as a growth market, utilising advances in AI and the ability of robotics to automate certain processes.

However, there is a certain reluctance amongst some in the farming community to adopt new technology, especially when there is a plethora of options available. Therefore, technology adoption is a key challenge. 

The expertise at the Royal Agricultural College and Hartpury University & College, with their strong science base and specialist facilities to enable businesses to use real world environments to test new products and services, does though give us a compelling 'offer' to pitch to scaling up international agri-tech companies.   

In addition, Gloucestershire's strengths in digital technology, with a strong read across into the cyber community, provides a wealth of talent for agri-tech companies to pool from.