Research & Innovation
A collaborative, mission-led approach to innovation
Innovation is about taking the frontier of knowledge forwards. Accelerating the
uptake of
innovation at scale is critical to enabling sustainable, long-term growth in
agricultural productivity.
The UK has an exceptionally strong research base, with world leading excellence
in agricultural,
biological, environmental sciences, artificial intelligence, robotics and
autonomous systems. However,
the uptake of innovation at scale appears to be poor.
The focus of the Research and Innovation Group is to identify how innovation
funding and
strategy can be better aligned the needs of the agricultural industry.
Actions
The Research & Innovation Group is:
- Mapping out the current landscape of research and innovation in the UK, with
comparison to
international approaches to R&D.
- Seeking to identify ways to better focus/align effort between bodies to achieve
faster uptake of
methods to improve productivity.
- Assessing and making recommendations for a series of discrete strategic
approaches to
innovation.
- Making recommendations to ensure farming industry has a greater involvement in
determining
R&D priorities, with the purpose of optimising benefits for industry.
Membership
Chair: Dave Ross, Chief Executive, Agri-EPI Centre
Belinda Clarke - Agri-Tech E (Vice Chair)
Matthew Smith - Agrimetrics
Susannah Bolton - AHDB
Brian Barker - Farmer, E.J. Barker & Sons
Lyndsay Chapman - Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock
Ruth Bastow - CHAP
Leon Terry - Cranfield University
Joyce Tait - University of Edinburgh
Joe Howard - Farmer, Little Morton Farm
Karl Behrendt - Harper Adams University
Simon Pearson - University of Lincoln
Helen Ferrier - NFU
Angela Karp - Rothamsted Research
Andy Richardson - Volac
Last reviewed: 19 Feb 2021