Innovate UK, which provides funding to companies developing products and services, has opened a new UK AgriTech Centre.

The new centre aims to drive innovation in agriculture and merges the Agricultural Engineering, Precision and Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI), Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) and the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL).

Innovate UK said the centre will increase access to new AgriTech opportunities and speed up the adoption of AgriTech solutions for farmers in the UK.

Additionally, the organisation said the centre has an important part to play in ensuring the future of food security in the UK.

Innovate UK said AgriTech is an important sector with record levels of private capital invested over the past decade and the potential to develop further.

“Becoming the UK AgriTech Centre increases our ability to implement innovation at speed to solve the increasing challenges in our food systems for the long term,” said Dr Peter Quinn, chair of board, UK AgriTech Centre. “One of the major benefits of the new Centre is that we have the best people with expert inter-disciplinary skills from all sectors, working collaboratively to develop and deploy new technology.

“We combine deep scientific and technology specialisms with general business acumen to commercialise innovation and increase market adoption across the agri-food sector.”

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