Innovation and optimisation will be key to meeting food production demands, according to speakers at the recent South West AgriTech Showcase, which attracted over 150 attendees.

“We need a plan, we need to be ambitious, and we need to be absolutely focused on the optimisation of agriculture,” said keynote speaker Baroness Minette Batters, a tenant farmer, cross-bench peer and former President of the National Farmers Union.

“We need to deliver for food and nature. The private sector is investing in agri-tech, and we are seeing things starting to scale up. But it’s not happening on the ground with food production.”

And targets are needed, said Baroness Batters. “Targets drive everything; we have targets on defence, on housing, on net zero - we have environmental targets on taking land out of production, for clean air and water - but we still don’t have targets for food.

“We cannot continue with this flippant approach to food production; we have a great climate here, we have the capability, the technology, the emerging startups – we really should be a test bed of innovation with our climate, on delivering what the world needs in terms of food security.”

In terms of the Government, there are three things which will be hugely influential, said Baroness Batters. These are a land use framework, a farming road map and a food strategy. “If all of those can come to life and be made to work, they can deliver. There is a real need to come together and focus on what they are going to look like.”

A lot of other elements need to come together to make for successful farming in the future, she said.

“The countryside is up for sale; we’re selling off land to people who are not farming it and not producing food. We have to deliver a multi-faceted return from our land, and it's the opportunity of our time.

“There isn’t a silver bullet, but there is something around focusing on producing much more from much less, and that is all about the optimisation of food production.”

To help address this, the event brought together a range of agri-tech businesses which aim to optimise food production, from controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to using artificial intelligence for detecting cow lameness. “The event showcased how innovative technologies can help improve crop yields, resilience, sustainability and overall productivity,” explained Joanna Rufus, chair of South West AgriTech. 

“The workshop session held by Satellite Applications Catapult prompted valuable discussion around challenges for those developing agri-tech. This looked at building better relationships between developers and end users, as well as what challenges end users face, the barriers to adoption, and what support could be given to accelerate uptake,” she added.

“It’s clear in the third year of the event that the appetite for agri-tech is still growing, and we hope this continues for the future.”