21 May 2021
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UKRI funding for 'net zero' agricultural techniques
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has pledged more than £2.2m to seven agri-tech firms with Canadian partners to fund the development of new agricultural techniques that will help both countries meet their net zero emission targets.
These include Precision Decisions which provides soil sampling and scanning, mapping, data and consultancy services to growers; Airborne Robotics, a manufacturer of heavy payload drones; and
Clarity Biosolutions which delivers a range of products and services in food safety and biotechnology.
The Canadian partners include TrustBIX which validates food production and processing operations; JCA Technologies, which provides components to autonomous agricultural machine systems; and SII Group, a digital services company.
UKRI’s £90m Transforming Food Production programme is part the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and aims to help the agricultural sector grow economically with less environmental impact.
The programme will set food production systems towards net zero emissions by 2040 by producing food in ways that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable. It will accelerate the development and adoption of integrated precision approaches to improve productivity in agricultural systems. The investment will be made over four years.
The programme will focus on the development, demonstration and adoption of data-driven systems and technologies to achieve a better approach to agricultural production and reduce emissions.
