Agri-TechE AgriChat

There has been a huge accelaration of new joiners to the industry in past five years - particularly in "non-ag" talent from non-farming backgrounds bringing new people, new ideas and new ways of working to find solutions to the challenges of the industry and the world! David Macaulay, Managing Director, talks Laura Bouvet, our Knowledge Exchange Manager, through a multi-disciplinary future support...

What does the future of agronomy look like? Belinda Clarke visited Stuart Hill, Technical Director at Hutchinsons, to find out. Hutchinsons is a leading agronomy company with over 200 arable and horticultural agronomists nationwide. Hutchinsons is focused on linking technology, knowledge and advice to deliver sustainable farming and does this through the Helix Farms. Helix trials and adapts t...

Hear Aleks Kowalski, Project Director of Drone RePeat, in discussion with Belinda Clarke about the untapped potential for drone applications in agriculture. SEAD Artists are a consortium of experts using drone technology to revolutionise how landowners, environmentalists and conservationists manage the UK’s vast peatland carbon sink resources. The consortium have looked at deploying the capability...

In this episode we meet Bianca Forte and Cara Griffiths to chat about new developments in the biostimulant sector. Single molecule biostimulants like the one SugaROx is developing are novel in agri-tech. The sugar-based compound helps plants through signalling, to improve their carbon allocation, 'teaching the plant to be more efficient'. With this biostimulant, yield increases of up to 22% are po...

This episode, we visit Future Biogas. Becky Wheeler, Head of Business Development, and Philipp Lukas, Managing Director, discuss the growth and future of anerobic digestion in agriculture. the anaerobic digestion industry has grown from a novelty in the UK to an established industry with engineering support, processes and experienced operators out in the field. Becky and Phillip discuss the divers...

Belinda Clarke ventures out to the farm to meet Andrew Francis, Managing Director of Home Farm Nacton. Andrew has long been engaged with adopting innovation on farm and shares his thoughts on what has - or hasn't - worked, and what he wants to see on farm in the years ahead. Home Farm Nacton produces organic vegetables, red tractor certified and leaf marque crops in Suffolk. The farm is a patchwor...

James Millichap-Merrick, Co-Founder and CEO of Vitabeam discusses how developments in light technologies and research have enabled pathogen prevention and improving plant resillience and growth using photons. Vitabeam Ltd has developed a world-first, patented cocktail of light wavelengths. Deployed via the VQe MaxStrip, the LED light bar simultaneously kills bacteria and mould, and boosts plant yi...

We're talking about the future of weed control on this episode. Listen to Andrew Diprose, CEO of RootWave and Director of Communities at Agri-TechE Becky Dodds talk through what's driving the change to non-chemical control, what options are out there and the technology RootWave are taking out to the field. RootWave kills weeds using electricity to give better weed control at a lower cost than chem...

Richard Bonn, Aethr Associates features in this episode, sharing tips to address climate risk, reduce carbon footprint and boost resilience with Belinda Clarke - our Director. With the imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, decarbonisation has become a central focus for the industry. Emphasising the need for proactive adaptation, Aethr Associates underscores the i...

Bhavnita (Bhav) Patel is a Sector Development Manager - Agri-Food and the Manufacturing Technology Centre. In this episode Communities Director Becky Dodds chats to Bhav about some of the barriers facing scale-ups in Agri-Tech, how we can de-risk adoption of technologies, and also some of the lessons learned from other industries that MTC work with that we could use in agriculture. The Manufacturi...

B-hive Managing Director Vidyanath (Vee) Gururajan joins Agri-TechE's Director of Communities Becky Dodds to take a look at the B-hive journey bringing technology from all disciplines to agriculture. The B-hive Team is made up of experienced science, engineering and project management professionals, supported by a commercialisation team, with in-depth knowledge and experience solving real day to d...

In this episode Chris Burnett, Senior Associate at Birkett Long, joins Laura Bouvet, Knowledge Exchange Manager at Agri-TechE, to talk all things innovation. The firm has a long-term commitment to agriculture and our agriculture and estates solicitors are informed and proactive; they understand the demands and requirements placed on those operating in the rural sector. As a client you can exp...

This episode features Rob Gowers, Senior Lecturer At ARU Writtle with a focus on the MBA in Agribusiness. The newly formed merged entity of ANglia Ruskin University and Writtle University College will embody a blend of tradition and modernity. The rich heritage and expertise of Writtle University College will combine with the cutting-edge resources and facilities of Anglia Ruskin University, creat...

We hear from Andrew Blenkiron, Managing Director of Elveden Estates. Andrew talks about how to get technology adopted on farm, making the most of the data you have, and what's been the gamechanger on farms over the past 10 years. Elveden is a 22,500 acre country estate, of which over 10,000 acres is farmland - largest ring-fenced arable farm in lowland Britain. The farm specialises in the producti...

Laura Bouvet, Agri-TechE's Knowledge Exchange Manager, speaks to Dan Evans in this episode of our Back to the Future project. Dan is is a Lecturer in Soil Formation at Cranfield University. He leads both fundamental and applied research on soil formation and the parent materials from which soil is formed. His work focuses on the interactions between parent materials and soils, how soil parent mate...

Agri-TechE Director Belinda Clarke chats to Jodi Bartin, CEO of Citicourt & Co. They discuss how the last few years have caused disruption to the financial services sector, and where the future of agri-tech finance could go. Citicourt & Co is a leader in providing a wide range of quality corporate finance advisory services, M&A advice and a full range of transactions. They provide sell...

Agri-TechE Director Belinda Clarke interviews Megan Vasko, Programme Manager at AbacusBio. AbacusBio are international leaders in the application of science and technology in agriculture, horticulture, and aquaculture. They combine science and business expertise to grow clients’ revenue and profit. Their consultants work globally on industry-leading initiatives across the primary food supply chain...

Knowledge Exchange Manage Laura Bouvet is joined by Roz Bird, Chief Executive of Norwich Research Park. Norwich Research Park is one of the 5 BBSRC Research and Innovation Campuses in the UK. It’s the only one in the UK with 4 research institutes, a university, and a hospital all on one single site. With strong research into grand challenges like food security and climate and a key focus on enterp...

In this episode, Director of Commities Becky Dodds talks to Tom Ludwig of NatureMetrics - an Earthshot Prize Finalist in 2024. NatureMetrics is a world leader in delivering nature data and intelligence, deploying cutting-edge technology to generate biodiversity insights at scale using environmental DNA (eDNA), Earth Observation (EO) and advanced data science and AI. The Nature Intelligence Platfor...