Agri-tech projects receive £24m funding boost

Innovative projects designed to help the UK’s agricultural industries will get a share of a £24 million Government fund.

Nine advanced projects that apply big data, artificial intelligence and robotics to UK farming to create improvements in food production will receive grants.

React First in Nottingham is one of the projects to be promised funding of £2 million to generate clean, sustainable food for poultry with a smaller carbon footprint.

Meanwhile, Saga Robotics in Lincoln will create the largest known demonstration of robotics and autonomous technologies on a farm using the funding it receives.

Within the project, farmers will be assisted by robots who will carry out energy-intensive physical farm processes such as picking and packing fruit.

Melanie Welham, Executive Director of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which is providing the funding, said: “These brilliant ideas have the potential to make food production more resilient, efficient and less resource-intensive.

“In this funding round, we’ve awarded funding to nine innovative companies. In the future, we encourage businesses to come forward with fresh ideas to help UK agriculture.”