Gaining the big picture perspective about emerging agri-tech and bringing up some with different ideas are two of the benefits of attending REAP, according to Mike Gooding who will be chairing the Farmer Panel.

The prospect may look quite different

Mike is a farmer by history and has just joined the AHDB as the Crop and Livestock Services and Farming Systems Director. He says that he learns something new every moment: “At REAP we are all learning up so I don’t head asking what may appear to be the ‘silly problem ’ – which is perhaps why I am chairing the program!

“Having a variety of ideas creates opportunities to start up your mind and to challenge yourself to believe more about how ‘the coming may also look very different’. ”

Mike likewise understands the difficulties of agri-tech technology. He chairs a start-up in Cambridge called SmartBell. It is developing an ear label for animal that you anticipate illness through moment changes in the animal’s biology and behavior. They are working with other cameras and systems to provide an in-depth knowledge of what happens at different life levels to offer insights that will eventually protected the animal’s full genetic potential.

Earlier studies suggest it can detect first indicators of bronchitis in calves enabling treatments before they require medicines.

Benefit from various opinions

The two SmartBell members are experts in information and detector technology, and they see crops as an area of chance. Veena worked for Amazon in the United States, and Jose is a gas and oil expert.

“Get somebody from Amazon, and data issues are solvable, ” continues Mike. “Ask Jose about making the device more strong and he will state ‘well, this is how we do it in the oil business ’.

“ What they are truly progressing is a different approach to data, and how it can be used and combined with various forms of data to benefit the cattle and farmer.

“They concern me about decisions that farmers make – if we can’t defend it, we may open our brains up to options. ”

Mike gives the example of inanity which is an endemic condition in animals but generally unnecessary.

Multi-stranded approach of technology and ideas reduces dumbness

Working together with the staff at FAI Farms in Oxfordshire a five-point dumbness plan was developed offering a multi-stranded method of technology and thoughts. “By following this technique, we reduced lameness to the point where I was able to move from 750 sheep on the farm to 1,250 sheep without any more fixed prices and I started to make profit out of the sheep, ” Mike explains.

“There was a straight economic benefit, a massive animal welfare benefit. And frankly, my staff were much happier because treating grotty, smelly feet is not a pleasant job.

“So, once we opened our minds up to being much more holistic, rather than simply the firefighting problem that ’s directly in front of us, we brought around entire system change. ”

The five-point lameness plan went on to be adopted across the sheep industry as a national strategy and is credited in reducing the prevalence of the disease in the UK from approximately 10 % to 3 %, a huge achievement.

“Having those different perspectives does build a much bigger picture. This is where I think the whole REAP conference should be about, not just the exciting technological opportunities, but how we apply them in practise.

Farm-centric innovation

Mike is keen to encourage as many farmers as possible to attend REAP and suggests these viewpoints would be good to discuss:

    The farmer perspective is vital – current on-farm challenges should be the key motivation for entrepreneurial development – solve that first and then expand. There is still a large group of people who are looking for the silver bullet scenario and it rarely exists and there can be unintended consequences. We do need that spirit and imagination– but arguably that should be financed with a different type of investment.

  • New models are required for agri-tech investment – over the last 18 months it has been really difficult to access finance and increasingly we see investment funds holding the whip hand in what we can and can’t do in our agriculture and their time frames are different. If this country is serious about wanting to be at the forefront of innovation technology and to stimulate genuinely sustainable growth in our food production, then we need to find mechanisms and structures that encourage those agri-tech developments in practical ways and help overcome some of these key blockers.
  • Need greater support from legislation – it ’s not just small companies that are experiencing challenges gaining finance, it is a supply chain issue. A global food manufacturing business recently observed that their ability to adopt a more regenerative approach is limited by the requirement of their big institutional investors to deliver a level of return. If there was legislation to say, ‘you need to manufacture your food to X specification’, that would give them the leverage with their investors to say, look, this is n’t a commercial decision, this something we have to do.

The theme of REAP this year is the tipping point and this is multifaceted. We need solutions to on farm problems in the near term, but we’ve also got big challenges on the horizon that are coming closer. So where do you think the balance falls between precision and broad-brush?