Precision agriculture in Telford

The UK is one of Europe’s biggest agricultural markets and has a population of professional farmers and growers ready to adopt new sustainably focused, precision agri-tech solutions. Telford provides access to precision farming innovation, with strengths in agriculture, advanced engineering and technology development.

Sector and market opportunity

Agri-tech is a fast-growing sector with global markets forecast to reach £37.6 billion during 2028. Using agri-tech solutions, precision farming plays a vital role in growing crops more sustainably and efficiently.

Telford has the infrastructure and capabilities to develop these solutions for the UK and global agri-tech markets.

Companies here can contribute to a technological revolution in precision agriculture with the design and development of:

• satellite positioning systems
• variable rate technology
• geomapping
• energy management systems
• remote sensing
• automated steering systems

Growth prospects

Precision farming is expected to be worth £170 billion globally by 2050. This will create a clear pipeline of projects for novel agri-tech solutions that meet the sustainability requirements of the global market.

Location

The region provides a gateway opportunity for the design, build, testing and operation of technologies on-farm with 10% of England’s farmland area and a high agricultural gross value-added.

The West Midlands contains 430 automotive firms, 150 aerospace companies, and 325 plastics and polymer companies. It is part of an end-to-end food supply chain, with farmers supplying to 350 food and 120 beverage manufacturing firms in the region.

The region has a cluster of SMEs that feature leading national and food production firms including Kuhn, Cargill, Saputa and Agricultural Magnetics.

Connectivity

Telford’s central position ensures companies can gain competitive advantage through physical distribution and connection to supply chains.

The Telford international Rail Freight Terminal offers direct links to the national rail network, major seaports, and key locations in Europe.

Rail travel times to major cities are short: London is 2hrs 10mins away, Birmingham 45 minutes and Manchester 2hrs 20mins.

Local talent and skills

More than 45,000 engineering professionals are in the West Midlands.

Harper Adams University is the UK’s largest specialist university in agricultural engineering. It is home to the National Centre for Precision Farming (NCPF) providing world-leading research and partnerships with businesses and universities in both crop and livestock production.

Research and expertise

The Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre delivers research, development, demonstration and training on precision agriculture and engineering for the livestock, arable, horticulture and aquaculture sectors.

Ni.PARK offers ideal grow-on space for agri-tech companies, with incubation space and high-specification manufacturing and research units.

The Hands Free Hectare project was the world’s first to plant, tend and harvest crops with only autonomous vehicles and drones. The project grew from 1 hectare in 2017 to 35 hectares and 5 fields by 2020.

Enabling clean growth

Decreasing land and labour availability is driving demand for more productive and sustainable agricultural solutions. This is creating a market for transformational automation solutions.

The Telford agri-food ecosystem services this demand with opportunities to design and test products, network with major players and sell innovations to a significant customer base.

Local and national government support

The UK government has committed to being at the forefront of the global move to high-efficiency and sustainable agriculture.

Local partners can also offer fast, responsive, deal-focussed development-ready land deals, innovation support and collaboration and partnership opportunities with a rich network of local agri-tech businesses.