When does more become less? REAP examines the agri-tech balancing act

Agri-tech, regenerative farming, Net Zero, precision agriculture, natural capital, vertical farming and gene editing were all unfamiliar concepts in 2014 when Agri-TechE (formerly Agri-Tech East) was launched to accelerate the growth of an agri-tech innovation ecosystem. As the membership organisation celebrates its tenth anniversary it is looking to the future. It has invited Dr Elliott Grant, CEO of Mineral.ai, to provide the keynote address at its annual REAP conference, where he will explore the implications of the digital transformation of agriculture.

Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE, comments: “Agri-TechE grew out of the recognition that to solve the big challenges of food security and increase productivity new thinking was required from beyond the farming sector.

“By supporting networking between technologists, researchers, and farmers at events like REAP we have helped to create bridges and generate greater understanding between groups of people who would never normally have met. This has stimulated many productive collaborations.”

It was at the 2019 REAP conference that Agri-TechE introduced the concept of ‘One Agriculture’, to explain how food production, society and the natural environment are inextricably linked.

Since then, the digitisation of farming processes has increased rapidly, making it possible to simultaneously observe and manage at a large scale and to become more granular and personalised down to the plant or animal level.

To explore the implications of this, the keynote speaker for REAP 2024, Dr Elliott Grant, will outline how breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and perception are revolutionising agriculture.

Mineral is an Alphabet company (which in turn is the parent of Google); its platform and tools gather, organise, and analyse massive amounts of data to provide insights into the relationship between crop genetics, environmental effects, and management practices on the farm. Elliott believes that this information has the potential to create new paradigms for sustainable agriculture.

“Agriculture is at a crossroads,” Elliott says. “We need to start asking the ‘why’ questions and challenge assumptions. Recent breakthroughs in AI are giving us the tools to revolutionise the way we grow food, and it’s only just the beginning.”

Belinda continues: “We are looking forward to being challenged by Elliott at REAP 2024, where we will be considering where the optimum balance lies between ‘management of the many’ and ‘optimisation of the one’.”

Find out more about REAP at reapconference.co.uk.

Image: Elliott Grant, Mineral [credit: Mineral]