techUK bring together digital innovators and farmers in joint session with NFU

24 Nov 2016 12:06 PM

Joint techUK-NFU event highlights the potential for the tech and agriculture industries to work together to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems.

Yesterday, 23 November 2016, techUK’s Cloud, Big Data & Analytics and Internet of Things programme held a joint event with the National Farmers Union, looking at how these two industries, tech and agriculture, can work together to ensure the tech industry is providing the solutions needed to deliver better outcomes in farming.

This was the first of two events, with techUK members given the opportunity to hear from NFU members as to how they interact with digital technologies such as data analytics and IoT.

With speakers from a range of agricultural sectors, including pig, cattle poultry and arable farming, a broad range of issues were discussed.

Opening the event Matthew Evans, Head of techUK’s Internet of Things programme, outlined that the agriculture sector faces a number of challenges, not least the requirement to feed a growing nation, and how tech could help them address that.

Helen Farrier, NFU Chief Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Advisor, also highlighted the appetite within the farming sector to engage in new disruptive technologies, if there was benefit to be gained. Helen also recognised the growing importance of the data revolution in agriculture with huge amounts of data being generated by farms on a daily basis. The release of around 11,000 open data sets, covering various elements of environmental data, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is testament to that.

Delegates also had the opportunity to hear from Rob Carter, CEO & Co-founder Field Margin, who is already providing innovative mobile solutions for farmers. Rob highlighted a number of key challenges including the struggles that arise from farms getting bigger in terms of both land and people. Such growth means more things to deal with and a question of what to concentrate on and when. His solution allows farmers to keep their farms in their pocket. Rob also touched on further innovations that could deliver a change across agriculture such as machine learning.

The session then benefited from two excellent panels, the first focused on livestock farming and the relevance of tech currently and into the future. Members were fascinated to hear how tech could help UK farmers compete internationally and manage the challenge of large-scale farming. With the UK producing about 19 million birds a week and eating about 22 million a week, data analysis from IoT sensors could be hugely beneficial. With agriculture demands increasing but profit margins decreasing, speakers identified a particular role for digital technologies in improving the management and efficiencies of their businesses, as well as the welfare of their livestock.

The first panel also identified particular challenges with using advanced technology such as reliability, connectivity and competition. All of which need to be addressed to allow wholesale adoption of digital technologies.

The second panel focused on arable farming, highlighting the use of satellite-driven tractors across fields and greater access to information on crop yields. Again challenges were highlighted, such as the need for digital solutions to be tailored, fitting user need. The significant concern of rural crime was a particular area where speakers saw potential benefits of technology.

This was followed by an interesting discussion between techUK members and the speakers which highlighted the appetite from both sides for these two industries to work together. The various supply chains within agriculture which could benefit from tech were discussed, as well as how these markets could be accessed. The variety of needs and abilities across agriculture, as with any, industry, was highlighted along with potential efficiency savings offered by tech.

This was a far reaching session, covering a huge number of areas. techUK is pleased to be working with the NFU to bring these industries together. Closing yesterday’s session techUK’s Jeremy Lilley reminded delegates that the second part of this series of events will be taking place in 2017 with techUK members having the opportunity to speak directly to NFU members and explaining the innovative solutions they offer.