Universities win £4.9 million agritech boost

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have allocated the Universities of Lincoln and Cambridge a £4.9 million grant to support their role in driving global agricultural innovation. It is hoped the grant will also help the Lincolnshire and North Cambridgeshire (LINCAM) region progress.

The LINCAM region already support 88,000 jobs and generates a gross value of £3.8 billion to the UK economy. The gross value creates export opportunities for agritech companies as well as boosting inward investment.

Simon Pearson, founding director of the Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology said the award would bring multiple benefits to what was one of the UK's most important farming regions.

Opportunity

"Food production accounts for 24 per cent of all UK greenhouse gas emissions, leads to significant biodiversity losses and drives challenging social issues - not least from seasonal worker influxes to rural communities. In addition, farmers are under relentless cost pressures which are eroding supply chain equity and local economies," Mr Pearson explained.

"These challenges are acute across the LINCAM region but this funding award offers an opportunity to harness agritech to secure sustainable growth, bringing high-value and skilled jobs to the region, whilst mitigating the serious environmental impacts of the food production system."

The two universities have a long track record of collaboration and Cambride Enterprise, the University of Cambridge’s commercialisation arm. Their work has included the setting up of Agriforwards CDT - the world's first EPSRC centre for doctoral training (CDT) in Agri-Food robotics.

It is hoped that LINCAM will expand participation by offering access to the EPSRC funding to all UK higher education institutes involved in Agri-Tech research with the potential to drive economic, environmental and social sustainability in the region.

Projects that are successful in securing a share of the funding will be actively mentored by the LINCAM team to accelerate the delivery of results.