UK: KTN Transforming Food Production event in York

The latest KTN event for Transforming Food Production; Science and Technology into Practice, Feasibility and Demonstration Briefing was held in York on November 27th.

The event was well-attended with presentations in the morning from Agri-EPI and Graham Ward of Stockbridge Technology Centre who showcased the facility’s Vertical Farm facilities, including the CHAP Vertical Farm Development Centre.

After lunch there were 22 short five-minute pitches given by participants hoping to garner support for their projects. The pitch presented by CHAP Innovation Hub Lead, Richard Glass outlined the CHAP capabilities and put forward a proposal for a collaborative demonstration project using biopesticides in arable agriculture.

Currently there is no biological crop protection approved for use on wheat or oilseed rape in the UK, and the project would initially use a selection of products with approvals for horticultural crops.

This would involve using Assessed Experimental Permits in the large-scale demonstration field trials and evaluating IPM programmes and application techniques to optimise the efficacy of the biological crop protection.