Thursday 4 November saw the very first edition of the FPC Future and Careers Fair held at Lincolnshire Showground. This new, inaugural agritech innovation exhibition and conference for the fresh produce, flower and plant industry was well attended by industry people as well as students and young people interested in seeing what opportunities are available in the sector.
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1350 visitors were registered to attend, and the two halls were certainly busy and buzzing with conversation.
"The UK horticultural industry is a sector hungry to fast track agritech adoption. The sector is rapidly evolving, making FPC Future a fantastic opportunity for suppliers to showcase their world-leading innovations to a diverse and progressive industry," said Nigel Jenney, CEO at FPC. "At the same time, FPC Careers showcased the huge benefits and opportunities that the sector can offer talented, young people who may not have considered a career in fresh produce, flowers and its many related sectors.” In the careers hall, many of the big UK companies were indeed there to explain to students that agriculture is not just working in the field and picking fruit and vegetables; there is so much to it than that.
UK Food supply chain
The UK food supply chain faces challenges across the board, prompting the industry to push forward with ambitious developments to guarantee its competitiveness and longevity for customers and consumers. "Innovations such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, vertical farming and other ground-breaking technologies have the potential to propel the industry to greatness and thrive like never before," added Jenney.
Various seminars took place throughout the day including: Robots and Automation Pre-Farm Gate, Robots and Automation Post-Farm Gate, Data Driven Technologies, Plastics, and Packaging.