Pre-Competitive Vision Infographic · Pre-Competitive Vision Infographic. 2 A Pre-Competitive...

A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop SectorA Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector

Index

Pre-Competitive Vision Infographic 1

Foreword 2-3

Sustainable Improvements in Productivity, Quality and Safety

— Priority Area 1: Crop Health & Productivity 4-5

— Priority Area 2: Breeding 6-7

— Priority Area 3: Emerging Technologies 8-9

— Priority Area 4: Seed Quality and Processing 10-11

Improving Social Awareness and Proliferation of Required Skills

— Priority Area 5: Adopting Innovation 12-13

— Priority Area 6: Skills Development 14-15

— Priority Area 7: Crop Diversification 16-17

— Priority Area 8: Engineering Solutions 18-19

Environmental Protection to Support Intensification

— Priority Area 9: Waste Minimisation 20-21

— Priority Area 10: Soil Health 22-23

— Priority Area 11: Water Usage 24-25

— Priority Area 12: Farming Systems 26-27

Summary 28-29

Innovate UK Funding in Numbers 30

Acknowledgements 31

References 32-33

1A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector

FarmingSystems

Waste Minimisation

SkillsDevelopment

Crop Diversification

Engineering Solutions

AdoptingInnovation

Breeding

Seed Quality and

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Soil HealthWaterUsage

Improving social awareness and proliferation of required skills

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Environmental protection to support intensification

Crop Healthand Productivity

Emerging Technologies

Pre-Competitive Vision

Pre-Competitive Vision Infographic

© KTN 2018

2 A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector

Plants and crops underpin the health, wellbeing and food security of our growing population. We depend on them through direct or indirect consumption via livestock, or through ecosystem services that improve the quality of our lives. Yet the future of plant production for food, feed and fuel is at a crossroads, and we must decide on the direction that we take. Societal values are changing, with populations moving to cities and becoming increasingly distant from agriculture. The low cost of food is seen as a right, however society is increasingly critical about how and where our food is produced, driving environmental and welfare agendas, politically-driven regulation and traceability. Society has a traditional view of how agriculture and horticulture should be conducted, and whilst welcoming technological advances in other industries, similar developments are viewed with suspicion in the context of farming and food production. Yet new innovation has a strong foothold in agriculture and is pulling on technologies from diverse industries including autonomous vehicles, aerospace, medicine, robotics and mathematics to deliver improved production. The land

Foreword

Agri-food sector contributes £112bn to the UK economy.1

The net contribution of agriculture to the UK economy is £8bn.1

A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector 3A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector

Martin Clough, Head of Global Product Biology at Syngenta, Chair of the KTN Plant Sector Advisory Board

Jayne Brookman, Head of AgriFood, KTN

available for agriculture is under pressure from urbanisation and the diversity of ecosystem services expected by society, so the preferred solution is to improve productivity in ways which allows a balance between these opposing forces.

In this analysis of pre-competitive research and factors necessary for adoption across the entire farming industry, we seek to consider the priority areas of science across the full suite of opportunities to balance sustainability, societal expectations and intensification in agriculture and horticulture…


There is a sizeable gap between the full potential of modern crops and the yield and quality achieved on farm. This productivity gap is caused by many factors including biotic (pests, pathogens and weeds) and abiotic (weather, nutrient, pollution) stresses and suboptimal agronomy.

An integrated approach is required throughout the supply chain to close this productivity gap and deliver the benefits of increased crop yield, improved quality and food and feed safety traits, and reduced environmental impact (e.g. reduced waste and improved biodiversity). To realise these benefits, we need to develop further foundational understanding, knowledge and translational research in the following areas:

— Awareness and management of new threats from pests, weeds and diseases.

— A systems-based approach to understanding and managing the interactions between the crop, environmental factors, agronomic practices, the soil microbiome and microbial-rhizosphere interactions.

Sustainable improvements in productivity, quality and safety

Crop Health and Productivity1

Between 1982 and 2008, average wheat yields in the UK increased from 6.2 t/ha to 8.3 t/ha, attributing to an increase in value from £373 to £445 million per year at 2010 prices.2


— Discovery of new cost-effective crop protection technologies with a favourable regulatory profile and strong grower and consumer acceptance, including biological and crop health enhancement agents and methods for their effective delivery.

— Delivery systems which deploy crop protection products and nutrients only to the intended target either through precision in application or via formulation technology.

— Decision support systems to mitigate risks and improve the reliability and consistency of crop production through the modelling of in-field data.

— Widespread adoption of existing and novel diagnostics, phenotyping, sensors and remote sensing systems will improve data collection.

— Mechanisms underpinning host-pathogen interactions, innate plant resistance, plant-pest genomics and plant physiology, to identify new target genetics for creating durable and broad-spectrum resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

— Post-harvest interventions to reduce losses and improve quality and food safety through the supply chain to the consumer.

The likely loss of plant protection products could reduce crop yields by 4-50 per cent, depending on crop, costing the food processing and manufacturing sector an estimated loss of £2.5bn of its GVA.3


New breeding methodologies are changing breeding programme structures and processes, advances in genomics and breeding theory, together with in-field and other high-throughput phenotyping is enabling plant breeders to streamline their existing procedures and improve breeding efficiency.

Yield potential continues to be a strategic breeding goal, as well as breeding for both high- and low-input regimes and quality traits such as flavour, storage characteristics etc. Resilience of crops to variable conditions is also a factor, e.g. hybrid cereals have higher agronomic potential due to their improved grain and straw productivity, and their yield stability, under harsh environmental conditions.

To ensure that new methodologies are utilised to the full to achieve these breeding goals, we need effective and well-funded translational research focusing on the following key areas:

— Using genomic and phenotypic data for gene discovery.

— Developing efficient in-field, high-throughput phenotyping systems.


Breeding2

£815m – the value of the UK genomics industry, 10% of global market value.4


— Data networks that enable rapid access and analysis of the big data associated with genotyping and phenotyping.

— New breeding programme structures that can utilise genomic selection alongside conventional breeding methods to enhance and accelerate genetic gain.

— New gene discovery and genome editing platforms.

— Development of hybrids with specific traits to aid in the development of more cost-effective hybrid seed production systems.

— Understanding the genetic architecture of yield and its components including photosynthesis.

— Understanding and exploiting the genetics of major UK plant diseases and pests.

— Understanding and exploiting “resilience” and “quality traits”.

Average UK wheat yields in 2017 were between 7.9 and 8.5 tonnes per hectare.5 Most efficient farms can reach up to 14.8t/ha, up to 83% of its theoretical yield of 17.8t/ha.6

Over the past 30 years, more than 90% of yield gains in the UK’s major crops have been achieved through plant breeding innovation.7


Adoption of emerging technologies is driven by the potential value delivered to growers and manufacturers by their application. Benefits can be accrued as cost reductions, i.e. manual labour and total inputs; reduction in adverse environmental impacts such as soil compaction and by improved pesticide targeting; better forecasting of stock fulfilment, quality improvement, and reduction of risks by adoption of new technologies. Embedding these technologies into everyday practices relies on collaboration and sharing of data between different actors across the agri-food supply chain, technology providers from other sectors and data analytics experts.

Emerging technologies for application in the sector include sensors and connected devices to collect data related to production, processing, and distribution of products. Software applications with machine learning can help collect, analyse, integrate this newly available data with a view to guide decision making on the farm and post-harvest.

In 2017, global investment in farm management software, sensing, and IoT reached $464m (27% increase from 2016), and global investment in robotics, mechanization and farm equipment reached $209m (17% increase from 2016).8


Emerging Technologies3


To realise the maximum impact from these new technologies, we need to develop further foundational understanding, knowledge and translational research in the following areas:

— Making imaging technologies more cost effective, lightweight, and reliable, and improving image processing algorithms.

— Integration of different, company-specific solutions for exchanging data to enable truly combinable solutions, e e.g. Lidar, infrared imaging, 3D imaging and GNSS to enable autonomous tractors, data integration and linking data to farm management platforms.

— Feasibility testing, validating, and improving resolution and usability of some of the most novel technologies to determine real-world performance including geophysical sensors such as ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction techniques, quantum gravity sensors, and X-ray computed tomography (CT) .

— Improving on-farm connectivity to enable adoption of low cost sensors such as soil moisture sensors. Adoption of new networking solutions such as LoRaWAN, to make use of the Internet of Things.



Seed Quality and Processing4Obtaining high-quality, high-germination seed free from disease is critical to successful crop production. Seed companies use several technologies including seed priming, chemical treatments, coating and pelleting to increase seed quality, improve germination and crop establishment. Improvements to seed production techniques can mitigate wastage of seeds during grading, cleaning, and treating.

Seed companies face a number of challenges, including higher hygiene standards and increased traceability requirements, for example, pernicious weeds, such as blackgrass, are difficult to clean from certain species of seed crops and have a severe economic effect on subsequent commercial crops. Furthermore, the regulatory process is removing possible chemical control of weeds in seed crops, and increased use of home-saved seed with resultant variability in germination and establishment is negatively affecting productivity.

Around 9% of UK arable area is used to multiply pure lines of seed from the plant breeder into certified seed.2

The value of seed sales within the UK was estimated at £290m in 2013.9


To enable further improvement in the production and processing of high quality seed, we need to support translational research focusing on the following key areas:

— Developing a better understanding of effects of temperature treatment, application of chemical treatments and nutrients on seed set, germination, and seed health.

— Exploring ways of adding beneficial organisms to the seed coating and pellet.

— Development of effective seed priming technologies to speed up germination across a wide range of crop species.

— New technologies and formulation for pelleting of the seed, especially with irregular shaped seed.

— New techniques for seed storage, sterilisation and disease diagnosis to maintain health and quality.

— Mechanical seed cleaning equipment for removal of pernicious weeds.

— Greater understanding and use of sensors and models to optimise seed harvest timing and downstream processes.

— Application of new methods, techniques, and devices, to enable data collection for identification of successful seed production, accurate seed screening and to assist inspection and testing by plant health agencies.

The amount of farm saved seed (FSS) in the UK is between 35% and 50% of total seeds planted. FSS royalties contribute to around a third of the total income available to support UK breeding programmes.10



Adopting Innovation5There is a need to open up the debate on “how the UK should farm”, and explain to the broader stakeholder base how farming is adapting to society’s changing demands. Social and economic sciences are needed to promote the development and uptake of innovation at all levels across the agri-food supply chain to deliver sustainable, resilient and profitable agricultural practices for affordable, safe and high-quality products.

Encouraging consumer understanding of technologies and clearly outlining societal and individual benefits is important for widespread adoption of technology by the mainstream agricultural sector and at scale. To generate customer-focused innovation strategy and support mechanisms, we need to:

— Develop a series of good practice case studies for effective knowledge exchange between researchers, advisors and farmers.

— Explore the short, long and medium-term impact of policy decisions and regulatory changes on the supply chain, including assessing the risk of unintended consequences and tipping points.

— Benchmark the value of scientific research, technology adoption and innovative practices to individual business performance, the UK economy, environment and society at large including the health and wellbeing of individuals and of the nation.


Business support from government should prioritise opportunities to test and de-risk innovation on-farm or in real-world scenarios. There should be more focus on activities that join up the gap between scientific R&D and practical application, including:

— Increasing farmer participatory research.

— Encouraging more communication and collaboration between scientists and farmers and growers.

— Building capabilities around research or satellite farms alongside demonstrator facilities.

— Recognising and rewarding Technology Transfer Departments of Universities and Institutes on the basis of real-world impact and not on financial income metrics alone.

— Facilitation of data sharing and outputs from publicly funded R&D to encourage effective generation of benchmarks and widespread adoption of best practice.

— Supporting access to innovative technologies from market sectors outside the plant sector to evaluate their use within agriculture.

Every £1 invested in plant breeding generates at least £40 in added value within the wider UK economy.7

£500m was invested by the UK private sector in agri-tech in 2012/13.11



Skills Development6Developing and maintaining a world-class, innovative plant industry sector requires an excellent skills base. To attract a high calibre of young people at all levels of employment, we must demonstrate a modern, technical industry that offers attractive and diverse career opportunities. To deliver a competitive industry that is truly fit for the future, the following priorities should be addressed:

— Better align the current myriad of “skills initiatives”, to allow investments in both people and research to reach their full potential.

— Focus on the growing trend within the industry for automation and digital technology and recognise the need for strong Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

— Recognise that skills shortages span the entire sector and need to encompass from further and higher education, business management and leadership.

3.8m people are employed in the UK agri-food sector, 13.2% of national employment. Of these, 0.5m people are employed in the UK agri-tech sector.12


— Develop improved dissemination skills within the academic and research communities.

— Provision of quality assured content for careers professionals and teachers; including training courses, information materials and webinars.

— Provide a joined-up approach to professional accreditation development and delivery.

— Ensure flexible educational and apprentice opportunities that provide and are accepting of, transferrable skills.

“As digital skills increasingly become the foundation of a competitive economy, businesses need to invest in digital training to increase productivity and stimulate innovation, or we risk the UK being left behind.”13



Crop Diversification7Interest in alternative crops is growing as farmers seek to manage market volatility, to deal with the changing environment and to tackle increasing pest pressure. By diversifying cropping, farmers can secure specific income streams and limit their exposure to volatile commodity markets. This security of income will allow them to make on-farm investments that should ultimately improve productivity across the whole rotation. Diversifying and widening rotations to include alternative crops allows farmers to take an IPM approach to tackling pest, weed and disease challenges.

There are many possibilities for widening the base of crops grown in the UK but these diversifications require a ready market and value capture mechanisms to enable seed companies and breeders to justify the investment in the time and effort required to support new or alternative crop development. Priority areas for consideration are:

— Research into nutritional value of existing and new alternative crops for UK to provide new sources of essential nutrients for both animal feed and human nutrition.

In 2015, the global market for health-promoting foods was estimated at US$130bn.14


— Development of specialist agronomic support and specialist harvesting equipment for alternative crops.

— Efforts aiming to increase consumer awareness and uptake, improving routes to markets and opening up export opportunities.

— Supporting legume diversification could be used to improve soil structure and nitrogen content, whilst producing a good alternative protein source.

— Improving understanding of the social parameters promoting choice of new alternative crops.

— Opportunities for industrial and non-food crops as a source of pharmaceuticals, fibre, biopolymers, and biofuels.

— Employment of remedial crop regimens to enhance soil properties and remediation of contaminated soils.

The current annual domestic demand for bioplastic products is 4,000 tonnes p.a but has the potential to reach 120,000 tonnes with a gross output of around £4.2bn, supporting 35,000 jobs and creating £1.92bn of GVA for the UK economy.15



Engineering Solutions8Novel engineering solutions offer opportunities to modify crop production systems to enhance arable crop yields and reduce environmental impacts. Many of these solutions have become affordable and scalable as a result of the emerging technologies described in Priority 3. There are also considerable opportunities for increasing automation in many sectors by using robotics in planting, raising and harvesting the crop.

Increasing urbanisation stimulates the development of novel cropping systems that can also decrease the length of the supply chain. New crop production systems including indoor and urban growing can reduce pressures on land and use of agrochemicals. Key innovations include the use of LED lighting, vertical growing systems, and soil-less growing. These systems offer unparalleled opportunities for precise control of the growing environments, profiting from what we already know about protected cropping.

To enable further development and adoption of engineering solutions in crop production, we need to support translational research focusing on integration of engineering technologies and agronomy, including:

— Development of cost effective and reliable lightweight robotic devices to minimise the impact on the soil, and undertake pest and weed control using precision methods.


— Quantifying the benefits of controlled traffic farming to provide farmers with evidence of added value.

— Validation and development of commercial, reliable platforms for satellite and drone-based crop monitoring systems for precision farming.

— Development of cost effective and reliable automated platforms for raising plants and harvesting.

— Commercial soil-free systems, key parameters for plant growth, nutrient supply, crop protection, as well as flavour and post-harvest characteristics need to be optimised for individual crops and varieties to reduce costs and maximise yields.

— Cost effective and reliable greenhouse coverings and claddings that manipulate the ambient spectral quality and quantity of light within the structure to improve crop production, health, and quality.

— Further development and validation of technologies for above-ground and root-zone temperature and atmosphere control to steer crop development and enhance quality.

Precision farming and engineering was estimated to be worth £1bn to the UK economy in 2016.16

Agricultural robots and drone technologies are already a global market of US$3bn in 2016, growing to US$10bn by as early as 2022.17



Waste Minimisation9Significant amounts of waste are generated in agricultural and horticultural production. Waste prevention and minimisation and valorisation are at the heart of the bioeconomy and circular economy, whereby agri-food residues are converted into valuable products, and carbon contained in these materials is recycled, thus reducing the use of fossil fuel consumption.

There has been considerable activity by both researchers and industry to minimise or profit from the use of waste. For example, opportunities for by-products from the whisky industry to be processed as a source of polyphenols or the use of fruit pomace for incorporation into healthy and affordable snack products.

There remains, however, a significant gap between the generation of ideas for waste minimisation or valorisation and the ability of industry end-users and farmers to achieve that potential. A structured approach is needed to integrate and enable uptake of the many small projects

At least 14m tonnes of bio-based residues are produced in the UK from crops and forestry sources each year.18

The UK wastes over 15m tonnes of food and drink per year, at a cost of over £20bn.12


and approaches that are being developed and to deliver the benefits of utilising excess or low-quality crop yield together with residual and co-products by:

— Characterising and mapping waste streams to fill knowledge gaps and direct waste to higher value markets.

— An audit of volumes and sources of aggregate wastes with similar biochemical components is required to provide surety of supply for new developments.

— Use of data and modelling to predict optimum harvest, processing and storage to reduce losses of perishable crops.

— Development of predictive tools and processes to allow processors and manufacturers to manage the variable nature of waste feedstocks.

— Separation of different waste in field and in factories using new and re-purposed sorting technologies from other areas.

— Validation of novel small-scale systems for fuel generation through catalytic conversion to help with routes to market and farmer adoption.

— Cross disciplinary research and product development involving social scientists to ensure consumer needs and concerns are addressed and communicated when developing new products from waste.

— Legislation that facilitates reuse of materials wherever safe to do so including application to land.



Soil Health10Soils deliver and contribute to a range of ecosystem services that underpin agricultural and horticultural production. Numerous inter-related threats and pressures are impacting adversely upon soils such as a changing climate, inappropriate agronomy, use of agrochemicals, compaction, erosion, reduction in organic matter and urbanisation. Continued sustainable intensification of food production needs to balance or counteract these pressures upon soil to be able to generate increasing yields.

To enable sustained improvement of soil health, we need to develop deeper understanding and translational research in the following areas:

— How crop species, variety and management practices interact to influence the soil microbiome with a long- term view to generate management practices that will underpin optimal crop yields.

— Knowledge of the dynamics of the soil biome and measurable parameters indicative of healthy soil systems.

2.2 million tonnes of soil is eroded each year in the UK.19

The cost of soil degradation in England and Wales in 2011 was between £0.9 billion and £1.4 billion per year.19


— Optimise the use of soil amendments in the context of long-term soil health rather than short-term yield gain.

— Determine the utility of novel fertilisers based on minerals and those derived from a range of waste streams, and understand their impact on soil ecosystem and function.

— Develop practical approaches to maintaining soil structure including the role of soil preparation in crops, such as potatoes, perceived to degrade soil.

— Optimise irrigation use and timing as a tool for managing soil-borne pests and pathogens.

— Improve knowledge of the influence of different soil tillage approaches to long term soil conditions and understand the barriers to uptake in different UK regions.

— Field test and validate use of cover crops and crop rotation on improving soil structure, and carry out economic modelling to develop new production systems based on these approaches.

— Develop better links between breeders and soil-root interaction scientists to optimise crop performance in sub-optimal soil conditions, such as under compaction.

— Adoption of novel imaging techniques to study root structure in situ and develop decision support tools for growers and land managers.



Water Usage11Water is essential for all growing systems and access to reliable high quality water sources through rainfall and irrigation is critical to the viability of farming businesses. Most growing systems rely on natural supply of water from rainfall and recent changes in rainfall distribution have highlighted the vulnerability of many production areas. The increasing frequency of extreme climatic events presents further challenges ranging from extended periods of drought to prolonged flooding following extreme rainfall events.

Most intensive production systems in the UK use a combination of rainfall and irrigation and protected cropping systems are totally reliant on irrigation. The increasing competition between farming and human and industrial demand for water resources is presenting many challenges for the growers. The increasing challenges relating to water availability provides a number of opportunities for pre-competitive research:

— Crops are frequently over-watered due to the risks (actual or perceived) to plant productivity from drought stress which often results in increased run-off together with reduced quality, and developing management tools to more precisely align water supply and demand are needed.

— Strategies need to be developed to reduce risk of input loss through run-off and the related pollution issues that this presents.


— Minimising risk of agrochemical runoff from saturated land and development of real-time prediction models to protect water courses.

— Increasing the efficiency of nutrient uptake through plant, soil, and nutrient manipulation is another productive area for research which will reduce production costs and the impact of farming systems on the wider environment.

— The soil’s water holding capacity is influenced by a wide range of natural (eg. mineral composition) and controllable factors (eg. organic matter and physical structure) and manipulating the latter provides many opportunities for further research.

— Precision application strategies provide new opportunities for local water management on a field zonal or even a plant basis.

— Understanding how crops use water and tolerate stress is fundamental to developing new water-saving irrigation strategies. Irrigation schedules based on crop models have been developed for many crops, but innovative technologies, such as remote sensing to determine water stress, opens-up new areas for research.

— Developing low-impact irrigation strategies, including hydroponic and closed system growing methodologies allowing circulating water systems and growth media optimisation.

95,000 hectares of farmland is equipped for irrigation.20

10% of the water used by the UK is consumed by agriculture.20



Farming Systems 12There is a growing recognition of the importance of adopting holistic, integrated and multi-disciplinary approaches to production, considering farms as complex and interconnected systems facing a wide range of diverse threats with an increasingly complex array of intervention, adaptation and mitigation options available to farm managers as solutions. Systems-based approaches and systems analyses, commonplace in other industries, can identify areas for continuous improvement and technology adoption.

To transform farming systems from reactive into predictive systems, translational R&D is needed to identify what ‘best practices’ are, and how to implement and integrate them in the following areas:

— The use of data to interrogate and analyse farm systems for productivity and sustainability, identifying trends and outliers, as well as opportunities for continuous improvement and sharing of best practice.

— The use of more diverse crop rotations that incorporate spring cropping alongside higher yielding winter crops is required. Different rotations will be required to account for soil types and geography.

— The opportunity presented by cover crops should be understood better in terms of optimal combinations, how mixtures interact and their effects on nutrient retention, soil health and organic matter.


— Companion cropping appears to offer significant benefits, with the potential to reduce pest and disease burdens. Which crops offer the greatest benefits for a range of conditions and how best to maintain the benefit to the system in dealing with the companion crop at the end of its life cycle should be determined.

— Factors required for successful conservation agriculture involving a broader rotation along with permanent ground cover and direct drilling, and scope for introducing livestock should be identified. A clear analysis would help decision making as this system is difficult to implement especially in its early years.

— The role of the farm team in implementing and driving change within the farming system as it is likely to be an important factor in receptiveness to innovation and new technology.

In 2017, global investment in novel farming systems reached $652m, a 233% increase from 2016.21

Worldwide, 12m hectares of land is abandoned each year due to soil erosion arising from unsustainable farming practices.22


Summary

The KTN’s Plant Sector Advisory Board has prepared this paper to define clear priorities for the UK’s Plant and Crop sector and areas of research and implementation necessary to achieve the full potential of its excellent research, production and industrial capability. The announcement of support for industrially relevant R&D via the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Transforming Food Production programme in February 2018 provides an exciting opportunity for development of some of the themes presented.

True progress in crop production requires a holistic and inclusive approach to the problems faced by UK farming systems and an appreciation of the potential solutions to be generated by innovation. Advances in science and technology underpin many of the areas highlighted by the sector as important for advancement in the 21st Century: these are grouped as sustainable improvements in productivity, quality and safety; and environmental protection to support intensification. This document also reflects the importance of the social measures, analysis of future systems and ensuring that the right skills are in place to exploit the opportunities presented.

The KTN Plant Science Advisory Board will use these themes to guide investment priorities for KTN networking events, advise applicants for research funding and support young scientists in their career development.

UK Strategy for Agriculture Technologies (2013) invested £150m in UK Agri-Tech Sector:

£70m for the Agri-Tech Catalyst Funding Scheme (2013-2016) £80m to establish world class Centres for Agricultural Innovation.16

This investment directly accounts for £14.3bn in GVA and 542,000 jobs in the UK.16


UK Industrial Strategy (2018) will invest £90m in Transforming Food Production.23

FarmingSystems

Waste Minimisation

SkillsDevelopment

Crop Diversification

Engineering Solutions

AdoptingInnovation

Breeding

Seed Quality and

Processing

Soil HealthWaterUsage


Sus

tain

able

impr

ovem

ents

in p

rodu

ctivity

, quality and safety


Crop Healthand Productivity

Emerging Technologies

Pre-Competitive Vision

Through our broad and authoritative panel of contributors, we believe that the key stakeholders in UK plant science will find themes and opportunities where they can collaborate to maintain our position on the leading edge of pre-competitive research.

© KTN 2018


Innovate UK Funding in Numbers

18.9%

12.4%

13.4%

2.3%

5.5%

16.1%

24.0%

7.4%

Breeding

Disease / Pest Control

IPM

Management Tools

Precision Farming

Productivity & Quality

Sustainability

Hydroponics & Aquaponics

The KTN analysed the 217 projects funded by Innovate UK that addressed R&D and innovation in plant and crop sector between 2010 and Q1 2018, to highlight the thematic areas of funded research in this period.

© KTN 2018


Liliya Serazetdinova and Chris Danks from the Agri-Food team at the KTN would like to thank the members of the Plant Sector Advisory Board who contributed to this booklet. Below is the list of organisations that the members represent:

Aberystwyth University Agri-Tech EastAHDB BBSRCBBRO Elsoms Seeds LtdFera Science Ltd Germinal Seeds GB G’s Growers Ltd Innovate UK KWS UK LtdLancaster UniversityNIAB Newcastle UniversityNFU Royal Agricultural Society of EnglandSyngenta The James Hutton InstituteVelcourt Group Ltd

Some images in this publication were kindly provided by Velcourt Group Ltd and NIAB-EMR.

Acknowledgements


References

DEFRA (2018). The Future of Farming and Environment Evidence 1. Compendium.

British Society of Plant Breeders (2014). Plant Breeding Matters. 2.

NFU (2014). Healthy Harvest: The impact of losing plant protection products 3. on UK food production.

Monitor Deloitte (2015). Genomics in the UK: an industry study for the Office 4. of Life Sciences.

DEFRA (2017). Farming Statistics: provisional crop areas, yields and livestock 5. populations in the UK.

Farmers Weekly, 17 November 2017. Lincs grower sees hat-trick in top wheat 6. yield competition.

British Society of Plant Breeders (2010). Economic Impact of Plant Breeding 7. in the UK.

AgFunder (2017). Agrifood-Tech Investing Report. 8.

DEFRA (2013). Seeds Marketing in England and Wales: Consultation on 9. revision of fees to achieve Full Cost Recovery for statutory services.

Intellectual Property Office (2016). The UK Plant Breeding Sector and 10. Innovation.

HM Government (2016). Agri-tech research and development funding: 2012 11. to 2013.

DEFRA (2017). Food statistic pocketbook 2016. 12.


House of Commons. Science and Technology Committee (2016). Digital skills 13. crisis. Second report of session 2016-17.

HM Government (2017). Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the 14. future.

Centre for Economic and Business Research (2015). The future potential 15. economic impacts of a bio-plastics industry in the UK. Report for the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA).

BIS (2016). Agri-Tech Industrial Strategy: Evaluation Scoping Study and 16. Baseline.

Research and Markets (2017). Agricultural Robots and Drones 2017-2027: 17. Technologies, Market Players.

HM Government (2015). Building a high value bioeconomy - opportunities 18. from waste.

House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee (2016). Soil Health. First 19. Report of Session 2016–17.

FAO (2015). Statistical Pocketbook: World food and agriculture 2015. 20.

AgFunder (2017). Agrifood-Tech Investing Report. 21.

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2015). Securing UK Soil 22. Health.

GOV.UK (2018). Business Secretary calls for new tech revolution in agriculture. 23. Press release 21 February 2018.

34 A Pre-Competitive Vision for the UK’s Plant and Crop Sector

ktn-uk.co.uk [email protected]

The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) is a network partner of Innovate UK. KTN helps businesses get the best out of creativity, ideas and the latest discoveries, to strengthen the

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