SPEAKERS at the recent CropTec Show in Peterborough explored the latest thinking on soil health, crop nutrition and crop protection and these seminars are now available to view on demand.
Chair of the crop protection seminar, NFU senior regulatory advisor Chris Hartfield, said the sessions looked at what the future held for farmers and growers post Brexit: “There are challenges and lots for us all to think about in terms of the availability of protection products in the future.”
Four specialist hubs outlined research and development underway in the UK bringing technologies and plant varieties to commercialisation. ‘Transforming Food Production’ highlighted some of the projects investigating robotics to create solutions. “There is no point developing a technology if there is no problem to solve,” said Chris Danks. Simon Pearson added that a ‘multi-faceted’ approach was important. “We’re looking at what’s interesting to agriculture in robotics and what’s interesting in agriculture to roboticists.”
In ithe Careers Corner, Rural business advisor Beth Duchesne of Brooks Leney encouraged new entrants to gain a mixture of formal qualifications and experience, keep up to date with industry changes and be persistent.
The CropTec Show encourages growers to build business resilience by embracing new technology.
The Regenerative Agriculture lunchtime debate attracted huge audiences both days. Chaired by Harry Farnsworth of Control Union UK the debate aimed to address whether regenerative practices stacked up on farm drawing on experiences from three farmers using new ways of farming. Ben Taylor-Davies ‘Regen Ben’ told delegates that his only regret was not taking a regenerative approach sooner. “I’m a much happier farmer now. We changed our attitude to livestock – and they’ve responded!” Norfolk farmer Will Goff said: “Success is in the attention to detail; little things make the difference.” Visitors were keen to discuss and understand the different systems, said Harry Farnsworth: “They wanted to talk about how to make it work on their own farms.”
The seminars are available to view on demand here.
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