Director Dr Belinda Clarke comments: “Agri-Tech East was established with the recognition that to create true innovation you need to provide novel solutions to industry problems. By bringing scientists and technologists from different fields together with potential end-users and industry experts we have facilitated the rapid growth of a thriving agri-tech sector.
“Our membership is now national and international and we are particularly delighted to see so many early stage companies and young entrepreneurs attracting the interest and support of the farming community.”
Antony Yousefian is the Director UK of the international smart sensing company 30MHz, which now supports a number of clients in the sector; however his knowledge of farming was initially very limited.
“Agriculture is not like any of other industry; it is incredible how Agri-Tech East has really enabled our understanding and helped us to navigate the vast agriculture world. Innovation and the will to innovate is in abundance in UK agriculture, though sometimes it needs someone to light the match. This is what Agri-Tech East does best and we are proud to be a member.”
Angshujyoti Das, founder and CEO of Express Weather, came into contact with Agri-Tech East when Dr Clarke presented at a conference at Hyderabad. It designs and implements weather stations.
He says: “Our Farmneed app is running successfully among Indian horticulture growers. We see a good opportunity for such a bespoke data and content delivery engine for the European and African markets where agriculture is facing tremendous risk from climate change. We were in search of an opportunity to understand more deeply and collaborate with the ecosystem, so meeting with Agri-Tech East during mid 2017 came like a fortune. We are participating in ‘Cereals’ with open mind and eyes.”
It is particularly rewarding that younger entrepreneurs are seeing agri-tech as an exciting sector. Olombria was set up after a successful student project, and is developing an ‘alternative pollinator’ for the fruit industry.
Co-founder and CEO Tashia Tucker comments: “We first got involved during the REAP conference last year and then joined as a ‘Seedling’ level membership. The support we have been given has been invaluable. It has helped us accelerate our knowledge of key organisations relevant to our work, and the diverse events that we have attended so far have introduced us to some key partners, expanded our understanding of different funding mechanisms as well as facilitated media exposure that has allowed us to reach a wider audience.
“We are looking forward to taking part in the Innovation Insights event during Cereals 2018 and the opportunity to discuss our work with the other attendees.”
Pascale Martin of start-up Agronomex participated in the GROW agri-tech business plan competition, which provides mentoring and support for entrepreneurs with a strong business concept. Pascale was one of the finalists in 2017 and pitched to potential investors and partners her plan for an online B2B fruit and vegetables marketplace.
She says this was the springboard she needed: “Agri-Tech East has been very supportive, providing feedback and making introductions. Additionally, through the events organised over the year, it has created a unique ecosystem that has facilitated communication between the different actors of the industry, which is extremely important for a young company like ours.”
There will be an opportunity to hear from a wide range of members (details below) at the Innovation Insights marquee on Day 1 of Cereals, Wednesday 13th June, from 3 - 5 pm.
Find out more at www.agritech-east.co.uk
30MHz
Established in 2014, 30MHz provides growers with everything they need to set up a wireless sensor network, and monitor their crops and growing environment, without technical expertise, through a private, scalable network and an intuitive analytics platform. www.30mhz.com
Express Weather
Express Weather designs, implements and manages automatic weather station networks according to clients' needs, using leading sensors and Express Weather's own data management technology. Farmneed is an interactive ICT based decision support application that caters to almost the entire agriculture value chain through its bespoke modules. www.expressweather.in
Olombria
Established in 2017, Olombria encourages flies to be more efficient pollinators in scenarios where bees are no longer as viable, by providing horticultural growers with information on pollinators and environmental conditions and using chemical volatiles to manage pollinating fly species. www.flypollination.com
Agronomex
Agronomex is an online B2B fruit and vegetables marketplace founded in 2016 to facilitate the direct trade of surplus produce. In the same place, you can manage your entire supply or sourcing process from the produce location to the payment and delivery. www.agronomex.com
Innovation Insights at Cereals 2018 will include:
30 MHz – allows real time information about the crop growing environment or storage conditions to be collected automatically from wireless sensors.
Agrimetrics – a catalyst for new data solutions across the agrifood sector.
Agronomex – provides improved procurement of fresh produce through an integrated sourcing system.
Eastern Agri-Tech Innovation Hub – offers farmers more value through novel waste solutions.
Express Weather – delivers bespoke weather reporting to improve risk assessment.
Fieldmargin – a digital farm map and log book that makes it easier to record and communicate tasks.
Germains Seed Technology – improving seed performance with technology.
G’s Fresh – using multiple data sources to improve prediction of demand and timing of harvest.
Hutchinsons (Omnia) – collates soil, crop and yield data as multi-layered field maps to provide improved decision support.
John Innes Centre – combating important combinable crop losses by combining expertise in Brassica genomics, high-throughput phenotyping, bioinformatics and mathematical modelling of biological processes.
KisanHub – captures data from trials research and communicates it in real time to researchers and farmers.
Map of Agriculture – providing customer insights and market intelligence for agriculture.
NIAB – improving root development in wheat to enable better yields with reduced inputs.
Olombria – using chemical volatiles to persuade flies to become better pollinators.
Outfield – low cost, accurate surveys of land use to deliver high resolution maps for farm management.
Prodata – creates alerts and warnings by rapid processing of field data to, for example, improve irrigation or better estimate harvest dates.
Rothamsted Research – using earthworms as indicators of soil health.
Sentry – uses the latest technology to encourage experienced farm managers to innovate and improve returns.
Smart AKIS – collating and disseminating updates on smart farming technologies such as robotics.
Stable – helping dairy, livestock and arable farmers manage volatile prices and input costs.
Timac Agro – offers a unique type of phosphate that offers improved availability.
University of Cambridge; Rural Business Research – benchmark your farm performance.
University of Essex – improving photosynthesis and water use efficiency in wheat and barley.
University of Hertfordshire – a new prediction system for powdery mildew that gives growers 48 hour warning.
University of Lincoln – transforming farming with robotics and artificial intelligence.
Weather Logistics – state-of-the-art seasonal forecasts providing local insights into flood risk and drought.
Yagro – negotiates better prices for agri chemicals through price checking and benchmarking.
Image: Angshujyoti Das (Express Weather), Tashia Tucker (Olombria) and Pascale Martin (Agronomex)]