As part of Green Great Britain Week’s Clean Growth Innovation Summit Andy Cureton and Calum Murray presented information about the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund's Transforming Food Production challenge. As part of the Clean Growth Grand Challenge, the recently announced Transforming Food Production Challenge will deliver £90m of new funding for agri-tech to help businesses, researchers and industry to transform food production, by making it easier to embrace technology and innovation. Find out more: www.ktn-uk.co.uk/news/could-your-innovation-transform-food-production

1. Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund:
Transforming Food Production
Clean Growth Innovation Summit
Andy Cureton, Calum Murray - Interim Challenge Co-Directors

2. • Builds on the UK’s world-class research base and delivers
the science that business needs to transform existing
industries and create new ones
• Accelerates commercial exploitation of the most
exciting technologies the UK has to offer the world to
ensure that scientific investment truly delivers economic
impact, jobs and growth right across the country
• Programmes delivered by the fund will be industry-led
and powered by multi-disciplinary research and
business-academic collaboration
• Delivered by Innovate UK and Research Councils UK and
eventually UK Research and Innovation.
ISCF Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

3. Globally we need to produce food in ways that are
significantly more efficient, resilient and sustainable
The UK Agriculture Sector
• Supports 3.9m jobs, utilises 71% of land and has GVA of
£112bn
• Productivity lags behind that of international competitors
and varies significantly across the UK
• Innovation and productivity have been stifled by direct
payments
• Innovation is critical to ensure a competitive and prosperous
sector
Transforming Food Production
We need to
realise the
biological
potential while
minimising our
environmental
footprint
N20 variation - Source:
The Royal Society , Jan 2018

4. Challenge
To transform food production systems so that by 2030 UK
agricultural productivity is market leading and environmental impacts
have reduced by 40%, waste across food supply chains is
minimised and the UK is a leading exporter of data-driven solutions
supporting food production.

5. By 2030 food production across the UK will be among the
most productive, innovative, connected, resilient and
sustainable in the world.
Our Vision
5

6. In farmed animal systems:
• Precision approaches will routinely be used for
• early detection and treatment of disease
• individualised nutrition
• reproduction strategies
• Real-time data collection and analyses across supply chains
will be ensuring:
• production, welfare, quality and value are maximised
• GHG emissions are minimised
• breeds optimally matched to their environment
• More product information will be provided for consumers
What will the Future of Farming Look Like?
The internet of sheep: prototype sensors on the animals’ backs
monitor location; accelerometer data can also be used to infer
behaviour. Copyright: University of Lancaster/G. Blai

7. In the crop sector:
• Real time monitoring will be standard, enabling highly
automated production systems that:
• optimise energy, water, nutrients, crop protection
products and labour
• enable dual cropping and inter-row production to
increase output
• enhance soil quality, biodiversity and natural capital
• Supply chains will be connected, minimising waste,
building resilience & maximising saleable yield
• Advanced breeding technologies used to achieve
sustainability, quality and production goals
What will the Future of Farming Look Like?
Computer scanning in different wavelengths
Aspects of plant health, such as pest damage, that
human eyes miss. Copyright: The University of
Manchester/University of Bonn

8. What will the Future of Farming Look Like?
Novel food production systems,
including urban and peri-urban systems,
will be producing high value crops,
securing increased market share through:
• Widespread use of hydro, aqua aero-
ponics, underground and point of sale
production
• Protected environments will be highly
efficient, minimising energy use,
capturing and re-using water and co-
located with distribution hubs
• Diversification of farmed species and
cultured foods

9. Is to connect people, ideas and funding
to catalyse the development and
adoption of disruptive data-driven
solutions across agri-food supply chain.
Our Mission
monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock©

10. Transforming Food Production: Objectives
• Create disruptive data-driven solutions to drive
primary agricultural productivity and reduce
environmental impacts
• Embed adoption of precision approaches to
bridge the productivity gap
• Establish novel high value production systems
• Strengthen connections between researchers
and practitioners
• Drive Growth in UK Companies and develop
export opportunities
IoT device installation in Agriculture is forecast to increase at
the rate of 20% compound annual growth by 2024
Copyright: Harper Adams/AGCO

11. Transforming food production: Targets
The challenge will enable the following change:
• Elevate UK to market leading rate of growth in productivity by 2030
• 70% of farm businesses routinely using new precision agriculture
approaches by 2030
• Double the value of the UK Precision Agriculture sector by 2030
• Reduce environmental impacts of agricultural production to go beyond
current agreed contributions legally binding levels by 2030 in the
following areas:
o GHG - CH4, N2O, CO2
o air quality – NH3
o water quality – nitrate, phosphate, sedimentation and pesticides
11

12. Feasibility of novel
approaches proven
Opportunities for large
scale demonstration
identified
International
Building
opportunity
in partnership
and driving
export growth
Industry-led Collaborative R&D
Creating disruptive solutions and high
value production system
Demonstration
Embedding adoption of precision
approaches to bridge the productivity gap
Community of practice
Strengthening connections between research
and practice and enabling adoption
Transforming Food Production: Funding
£50M
£10M
£10M
£20M

13. Productive and Sustainable Crop and Ruminant Agricultural
Systems
“Drive productivity and sustainability in crop and ruminant
production systems”.
Competition closes 24 October 2018 12:00
Collaborative R&D 1

14. Competition Core Crop and ruminant
production systems
Increasing
productivity of
existing systems

15. Addressing the disconnect between R&D and Practitioners:
• facilitation to develop partnership around farmer identified
challenges
• project support for collaboration between researchers and
businesses with practitioners
• providing tailored information on outputs of activities to enable
knowledge exchange with end-users.
Community of Practice

16. Seeding Awards - £1.5m
• support activities to allow Research Organisations to engage
practitioners and support the transition from discovery research to
translational development projects such as:
• funding for proof of concept projects
• generating evidence with users of the benefits of novel solutions,
• understanding economic, environmental and societal barriers to the
adoption and uptake of data-driven precision solutions for food
production challenges,
• All activities will be scoped with engagement of practitioners
• 13 Awards made to Research Organisations
Community of Practice

17. Information on funding opportunities
•Information of future competitions will be made
available via the KTN
ktn-uk.co.uk/Funding