AgriFoRwArdS Newsletter Issue 17 - July 2024 Edition

Welcome to the 17th issue of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Newsletter. Scroll down to find out what has been happening within AgriFoRwArdS, and the wider Agri-Food Robotics community, recently.

Make sure to follow us on Linked In to keep up to date with all the latest news and activities!

AgriFoRwArdS at the Lincolnshire Show

Adapted from article by Prabuddhi Wariyapperuma

This June, CDT Students Prabuddhi Wariyapperuma and Callum Lennox represented the AgriFoRwArdS CDT and the University of Lincoln at the 139th Lincolnshire Show. This historic annual two-day event is a lively celebration of rural list, agriculture, and innovation.

The exciting event offers a diverse range of activities and attractions, including exciting events such as scurry driving, show jumping and livestock displays. Local produce is showcased, with food stalls and tasting sessions, as well as agricultural exhibits showcasing livestock, crops, and farming equipment. 

The University of Lincoln plays a significant role in the event each year, with two stands dedicated to showcasing robotics and agricultural technology. The university main stand, showcases the university’s role in advancing agricultural technology, particularly with a focus on robotics.

As part of this showcase, Prabuddhi used Trilobot robots to illustrate one of the practical applications of robotics in agriculture.

"Using its camera, it detected the colour green, representing crops, and navigated towards the detected crop. It stopped near the crop, measuring the distance using the ultrasonic distance sensor, and turned until it identified another green object. This demonstrated their potential in automating agricultural tasks such as weed detection and management. Many visitors, both young and old, showed great interest in this demonstration, asking insightful questions about how such robots could potentially transform agricultural practices in the future." - Prabuddhi Wariyapperuma

The University also hosted the Schools Challenge stand in the Education Zone, with the goal of engaging groups of school-age children in the exciting world of computer vision and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in agriculture. One of the activities, supported by Callum, was used to show how cameras can detect objects, such as vegetables. Children were invited to draw pictures of fruits and vegetables, which were then analysed using a camera. Predictions and confidence levels for the objects in each drawing were then compared with those of real fruits and vegetables, illustrating the use of object detection in agriculture.

The students involved had a fantastic time at the show, and found it to be a great learning experience.

AgriFoRwArdS at the London Imaging Meeting 2024

Adapted from article by Afsaneh Karami

AgriFoRwArdS Students Afsaneh Karami and James Bennett, who are currently studying their PhD's at the University of East Anglia, attended and presented at the London Imaging Meeting (LIM) in London on the 26th to 28th June 2024.

The event includes a one-day summer school followed by a two-day conference, offering a rich blend of learning and networking experiences. There were lectures by experts from different fields in computer vision which enabled students to deepen their understanding of the latest advancements in image processing research. These sessions are particularly beneficial as they provided hands-on experience and direct interactions with leading experts in the field.

Afsaneh presented on ‘Unifying Path and Centre-Surround Retinex Algorithms’. The presentation allowed Afsaneh to showcase her work, receive valuable feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions with fellow researchers and professionals.

James presented his paper titled 'Even Simpler Tone Curves', which builds on the work he is currently undertaking in his PhD research.

"The entire experience was immensely rewarding, enhancing both my academic knowledge and professional connections." - Afsaneh Karami

AgriFoRwArdS at ICRA 2024

Adapted from article by Yi Zhang

In May members of the University of Cambridge AgriFoRwArdS community, student Yi Zhang, Deputy Director Fumiya Iida and Technician Narges Khadem Hosseini, travelled to Yokohama in Japan to attend the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). The conference is one of the largest robotics and automation conferences in the world, with over 7,000 delegates attending in person and online this year.

Over the course of the five-day event, a wide array of sessions delved into various aspects of robotics, covering topics such as grasping and manipulation, sensors and actuation, and the application of robots across different scenarios. The conference exhibition featured numerous robotics companies, each presenting exciting demonstrations. Aligned with the conference theme “CONNECT+”, the conference provided a venue for Yi to connect and discuss robotics with researchers from around the world.

"One particularly inspiring workshop focused on cooking-robotics. ... I gained a deeper understanding of the diverse skill sets required at different levels of culinary expertise. The tasks in the lowest level included peeling and cutting ingredients, a job typically deemed tedious and time-consuming by chefs. While there is a clear need for introducing robots into the kitchen, current robot systems still face challenges in executing these tasks. This realization encouraged me to develop more reliable and safer control algorithms to perform these essential culinary functions." - Yi Zhang

Yi attended the event specifically to take part in the food handling competition organized by RT Corporation, her AgriFoRwArdS industry partner. She tackled the task of preparing a traditional Japanese dish ‘Ikuradon’ (salmon roe rice bowl) using the control algorithm they are developing. The experience provided Yi with valuable insights into the challenge their algorithm faces and allowed her to learn how other teams customized their use of the RT robot and approached the task. While in Japan, Yi also had the opportunity to visit the office of RT Corporation.

"It was enlightening to witness their endeavour in developing a variety of robots for industrial and educational use." - Yi Zhang

House of Lords Celebrate Robotics

Adapted from article by Amie Owen

On Tuesday 21st May Cohort 2 AgriFoRwArdS Student Amie Owen was invited by The Lord Mair CBE to attend the House of Lords to speak about robotics alongside Prof. Fumiya Iida from the University of Cambridge and Dr Dana Damian from the University of Sheffield. The Lord Mair is Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Engineering Group, comprised of members from the Lords and Commons. The group aim to encourage young people to pursue careers within engineering organising events where speakers are invited to present to secondary school children and early-career engineers about a particular topic within engineering.

"Places like the House of Lords can feel off-limits and far removed from our own lives. Having an open door for the day helps to bridge the gap between those who have achieved a lot throughout a lifetime and those just starting out on their journey. I believe it could really boost the aspirations and confidence of the young people attending." - Amie Owen

Amie spoke about her route into engineering, pursuing her interest in robotics and computer science and what motivated her to do a PhD. She also spoke about people she’d met along the way who had inspired her as well as her own beliefs for how we can best use robots.

Amie found that following her presentation, and that of Prof Iida and Dr Damien, there were many excellent questions from delegates, showing a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the topic of robotics, as well as some concern about where Robotics and AI might take us as a society.

International Epidemiology Workshop 2024

Adapted from article by Rachel Russell

In April Cambridge AgriFoRwArdS Student Rachel Russell and her supervisor Dr Nik Cunniffe travelled to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, to attend the International Epidemiology Workshop 2024. The event happens once every 4-5 years and is one of the main gatherings of plant epidemiologists, who study the spread of plant diseases and pests, from across the world.

Rachel's PhD focuses on using reinforcement learning to optimise the detection and control of invasive plant disease epidemics. Over the past months Rachel has been focussed on finding a sensible optimisation method to compare her reinforcement learning results to. She has compiled a spectrum of different approaches to baselining, ranging from basic heuristics up to a full implementation of previous methods. Rachel then condensed this thinking, along with an example from some recent work, into a poster “Baselines for Prioritisation of Epidemic Control” which she presented at the workshop. The poster also links into work recently submitted for review as a paper (preprint linked here).

"The main benefit of attending this conference for me was to get a wider view on the range of epidemiology work carried out across different subfields and across the world." - Rachel Trimble

As well as opportunities to network with new people from research groups from across the world, and hear from leaders in plant epidemiology, Rachel got the chance to see the incredible Iguazu Falls on a conference day trip

"The falls are in a forest area and in a group full of plant, fungus and insect specialists, you had the comedy situation where people were taking almost as many pictures of the insects and fungi in the forest than of the huge waterfalls…" - Rachel Trimble

Oxford Mathematical Institute Summer School

Adapted from article by Mazvydas Gudelis

In July Cohort 2 student Mazvydas Gudelis visited Oxford for the Oxford Machine Learning Summer School, organised by AI for Global Goals.

The programme comprised four specialised schools, of which Maz attended two, the MLx Fundamentals, which was held online and gave an introduction to state of the art Machine Learning (keynotes spoke about modern techniques for Generative AI in NLP, Statistical ML, and Optimisation), and the MLx Health and Bio.

At the MLx Health and Bio school, which took place at the Oxford Mathematical Institute, the was emphasis on Medical Imaging and Drug Discovery with the help of Deep Learning models.

"My favourite talks by far were from Christian Ruprecht from the Oxford VGG group, and from Philip Torr. Christian's talk focused on general recent trends in Computer Vision and he talked a lot about optical flow, something I am currently doing for my fish project. Philip's talk was simply breath-taking, he gave a linear presentation on AI and Computer Vision for Science. Philip has been in the Computer Vision sector for over the last 20 years, so seeing the progression throughout this time was very captivating." - Mazvydas Gudelis

"What we all agreed we liked the most was the ending to Philip's talk. He asked for a show of hands to see how many people in the venue were PhD students (a huge majority obviously) and continued with slides tailored to PhD students' life advice. This hit really close and was super wholesome because he touched up on a lot of aspects that most PhD students struggle with." - Mazvydas Gudelis

A crucial aspect of this and many other summer schools is the networking possibilities. Maz was able to connect with many people from all around the world, who are researching deep learning for various aspects of medicine and biology.

"The summer school was really good, and I would highly recommend this venue to other Agriforwards students in the future. My RTSG funds were really well spent here." - Mazvydas Gudelis

Outreach in Korea

Adapted from article by James Heselden

In May James Heselden, who is currently in his 2nd year of his PhD study at the University of Lincoln, had the opportunity to visit the Department of Herbal Crop Research at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science in South Korea. The visit provided a deep dive into techniques and ongoing challenges in the cultivation of ginseng, a perennial crop deeply rooted in both tradition and modern scientific research.

Upon arrival at the institute, James and his colleagues were shown the essentials of ginseng horticulture. In this they learnt how it takes 3 years for a plant to produce seeds, 4 years to reach low-grade maturity and 6 years to reach top-grade maturity. This session also highlighted the critical issue of fungal rot, which can severely diminish the value of ginseng crops within just two weeks of infection.

The tour included visits to various growing areas, where they discussed the specific climatic needs essential for ginseng cultivation and were able to view their experimental polytunnels. Traditionally, ginseng has been grown in small, shaded structures which mimic the shaded low-canopied forest the plant is found in naturally; however, a key part of the department’s active research focuses on innovative shading techniques. Specifically, they aim to enhance protection against increasingly severe weather conditions caused by climate change, whilst also improving yield potential, and ensuring worker safety from internal temperatures reaching 50°C (122°F) during summer.

The potential for integrating robotic systems in various agricultural tasks was a topic of considerable interest for both James and the department. These discussions covered the use of robots for navigating crop tunnels and enhancing pest and disease control with minimal pesticide use. Past projects by Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS) and Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) into robot-assisted phenotyping, and strawberry transportation were also interesting points of discussion.

"Visiting the research facility and interacting with experts not only expanded our understanding of the complexities involved in ginseng cultivation but also illuminated the cutting-edge approaches being developed to tackle these challenges and where we will be likely to see agricultural robots operating in the future." - James Heselden

"The day was a fascinating blend of education and insight into the future of agricultural technologies, and I am very grateful to the researchers who took time out of their active day to discuss their work with us." - James Heselden

AgriFoRwArdS Summer School 2024

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT students travelled to Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands in early July for the annual AgriFoRwArdS Summer School, which this year was held in collaboration with WUR.

The Summer School saw CDT students and Wageningen students work together to focus on tasks within various aspects of the robotic phenotyping pipeline. They got to align with existing projects and research themes from within the CDT and WUR, and cover different processing steps like Active Robot Control, Data acquisition, Data integration/mapping, and Feature extraction. Days were filled with programming and development, socials, tours, and inspiring talks. The event kicked off with a welcome lunch, and concluded with presentations by each team, and a focus on the bigger picture of robotic phenotyping.

The Summer School was structured around 6 themes, each focusing on a specific area relevant to Robotic or Automated Phenotyping;

• Domain Generalisation for plant/weed detection
• LLM based state-machine (function calling) for planning robot actions
• Responsible adoption
• Ground Navigation/SLAM for creating weed/plant maps
• Interactive Perception
• Phenotyping Perception beyond 2D Colour

Each of the six themes was carefully developed by the students themselves, with Theme Leads spending months prior to the event developing the challenges to focus on, determining the learning objectives, and pulling together resources for each theme. The CDT would like to thank these student's for the time and effort put in to making this summer school such a success;

• Theme 1 - Thomas Versmissen (WUR), David Rapado-Rincon (WUR) & Bradley Hurst (CDT)
• Theme 2 - David Rapado-Rincon (WUR) & James Heselden (CDT)
• Theme 3 - Bethan Moncur (CDT) & Hao Wang (WUR)
• Theme 4 - David Rapado-Rincon (WUR) & Kaiwen Wang (WUR)
• Theme 5 - Akshay Kumar Burusa (WUR) & Xumin Gao (CDT)
• Theme 6 - Harry Rogers (CDT), Andy Perrett (CDT) & Bart van Marrewijk (WUR)

At the beginning of the week there was a poster session to encourage networking, and to give the students from the CDT and Wageningen the opportunity to get to know each other and their research.

Following the poster session, students were given a tour of the Wageningen University & Research campus and facilities, including the state of the art Netherlands Plant Eco-Phenotyping Centre (NPEC).

To support the students' learning, WUR arranged some fascinating talks by members of the Wageningen faculty, Prof.dr. Jochem Evers, Dr Dirk van Apeldoorn, Dr Jochen Hemming, and Dr Rick van de Zedde. They shared their knowledge on agri-robotics and in particular robotic phenotyping to give background on the applicability of the work students were taking part in as part of the summer school, and how the technology they were working with could be used to the benefit agriculture generally.

As well as lots of hard work, there was plenty of opportunity for down time, and to socialise, with various social activities built into the programme, including a 'Summer School Olympics', BBQ, and GPS hunt in the forest.

It just so happened that on the Wednesday evening the Netherlands team were playing England in the Euros 2024! An outdoor screening of the match was the only way to go.

Travelling to and from the event gave plenty of opportunity to socialise as a cohort, with the majority of students travelling be overnight ferry.

Speaking to students after the event, it has become clear this years Summer School was a resounding success. Student's highlighted specifically that they appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with students from Wageningen University & Research, and we've already heard that further collaborations are on the cards!

When asked what they enjoyed most about the Summer School, one student commented, "the interaction with like minded people, seeing all the interesting projects people are working on", and another said "I thoroughly enjoyed visiting WUR's facilities and listening to the motivational talks by the academics who work there. It was a great networking opportunity which helped me see what research topics/areas are trending outside of the CDT."

Some final highlights...

AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024

The 5th AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference took place at the Enterprise Centre, UEA, from 21st – 23rd July 2024. On the theme of Robots in Action!, the conference featured speakers from both academia and industry and included both a workshop and presentation on topics relevant to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). The Conference Dinner was held in the prestigious world class art museum the Sainsbury Centre, also based on the UEA campus. Sustainability was a key focus for the conference, with the Conference Dinner featuring food and drink local to the region.

Keynote speakers included Duncan Russell of Ocado Technology - with delegates also treated to an impressive video of the Ocado robots in the foyer – and Robin Wang of Living Optics, with many stories to tell from his experiences on the front line of venture capitalism. Other speakers included Becky Dodds of Agri-Tech-E, Trisha Toop of the UK Agri-Tech Centre, Louise Manning of the University of Lincoln, and Abigail Powell of the Eleanor Glanville Institute.

On Monday afternoon, delegates were invited to attend one of two workshops. Leonardo Guevara of the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) led a hybrid discussion on Agri-robotics, and Chapa Sirithunge from the University of Cambridge led a Women in Robotics workshop featuring a presentation by Bola Olabisi, founder and CEO of the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network (GlobalWIIN). The latter featured a panel discussion on inequality which included speakers Abigail Powell and Louise Manning, as well as Beatriz de la Iglesia, Head of the School of Computing Sciences at UEA.

Cohort 3 student James Bennett is currently taking a break from his PhD studies while he undertakes a research internship with his Industry Partner, Antobot. But that wasn’t a deterrent to conference attendance for James. James attended the AgriFoRwArdS conference as an Antobot industry representative. James was accompanied by an Antobot robot, which became quite the talking point! The CDT’s MSc students (and some PhD students) contributed posters to the conference, which were displayed in the foyer, whilst Cohort 3 students delivered a number of short presentations.

Awards were given for those students who delivered outstanding talks, these prizes were presented to Bethan Moncur, Vijja Wichitwechkarn, and Rachel Russell. James Bennett was also presented with the award for outstanding contribution, for going above and beyond, being involved in the programme committee, arranging a demonstration, and presenting his research, all whilst on a placement. Congratulations to these students.

The UEA students were heavily involved in the planning and delivery of the conference, developing the programme as members of the programme committee, chairing presentation sessions, and helping practically by meeting and greeting delegates. We would like to thank the UEA students for their involvement in making this such a successful conference.

Many thanks to everyone who participated and contributed to the conference. Special thanks go to the programme committee, the UEA AgriFoRwArdS team, the admin teams at Cambridge and Lincoln, as well as Richard Harvey and Beatriz de la Iglesia of UEA, who opened and closed the event.

Next year’s AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference will be hosted by the University of Cambridge, with the date to be confirmed. We look forward to seeing everyone in Cambridge next year.

Students Visit Dyson Farming

In early June the AgriFoRwArdS Students had the pleasure of visiting the Dyson Farming Estate in Carrington, Lincolnshire.

Student’s began the day with talks from members of the Dyson Farming team, introducing students to the company and the wide range of work they do. They were then given an overview of the Carrington location and the amazing research ongoing at the site. This also included how Dyson Farming and Dogtooth Technologies are working together towards automation, which included demonstrations of the state of the art Dogtooth Technologies’ robots being used on the site later in the day.

The students had the opportunity to visit the spectacular 26-acre glasshouse, where Dyson Farming grow over 1 million strawberry plants, using renewable energy, to provide 1,250 tonnes of British strawberries each year. Students saw how Dyson have not only extended the growing season, and done so sustainably, but also how they use robotics to support this process. Student’s enjoyed a tour of the incredible building, with demonstrations of the robotic strawberry harvesting, following which they were also shown Dyson’s Anaerobic Digesters, which produce gas to drive turbines which produce all the green energy needed to power their farming operation.

"I particularly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at the glasshouse, including rainwater harvesting, trials of Dogtooth robots picking strawberries and LED lighting for optimizing strawberry cultivation." - AgriFoRwArdS Student

"It is good to see theory being utilised for an actual effect. The results are extremely promising." - AgriFoRwArdS Student

Thank you to Dyson Farming for hosting this brilliant visit for our students.

Students visit G's

June was a busy month in the CDT students' calendars. After visiting the Dyson Farming Estate (see article above for more information) at the beginning of June, students then went on to visit the G’s farming facilities. G’s has been collaborating with the AgriFoRwArdS CDT from the very beginning and work closely with Cohort 2 student Will Rohde as a key member of his supervisory team.

46 students and staff members visited the G’s estate on Thursday, 20 June. The talks, and tour, given by the G’s staff finalised the 2024 AgriFoRwArdS Seminars Series events. The students then travelled to Cambridge in readiness for the Quarterly Research Progress Meeting, taking place the next day, at the University of Cambridge’s Engineering Department.

Student’s fed back that they were very encouraged by the knowledge and passion that G’s staff show for their work, and thanked the G’s staff for their positive responses to students’ questions.

"… it was eye opening how efficient and dedicated this company is to ensuring success. The big take-way was how G’s are pushing regenerative farming and take care of soil health that in long term ensures the success of G’s business model." - AgriFoRwArdS Student

Student’s were also impressed with how thoughtfully modern practices are integrated with traditional agriculture. It was great to see how methods that for many hundreds of years have brought fruitful results, are improved by the introduction of 21st century innovative technological approaches.

We asked Vijja Wichitwechkarn to summarise the student experience of the event, here is what he had to say:

"On June 20th, 2024, the Agriforwards CDT organized a trip to G’s, and it was fantastic. We heard all about regenerative agriculture and the cool digital technologies they’re using. Touring their facilities, we got to see amazing automation and robotics in action. Being on the farm made it clear just how challenging it is for robots to work in such a complex environment. Seeing it all up close gave me a new appreciation for agricultural tech. Plus, the weather was great, which made the visit even more enjoyable." - Vijja Wichitwechkarn

Cambridge University Engineering Department Open Day

It is a Cambridge University tradition to hold open day events, each year, in the first week of July. For many years the Engineering Department has taken a very active role in this University event and opens its doors and laboratories to more than 5 thousand people, who eagerly visit the departments and colleges.

This year the Observatory for Human Machine Collaboration (OHMC), Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL) and Control Laboratories, supervised by the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Deputy Director Prof Fumiya Iida and Co-Investigator Prof Fulvio Forni, also took part in the Open day event, and presented a very impressive range of robotic demonstrations: 12 different experiments, two of which were from AgriFoRwArdS CDT students.

Elijah Almanzor, presented his research on how to use robotic solutions for planting potatoes on unusual surfaces, and Will Rohde attracted the attention of prospective engineering students with his project on precision agriculture techniques. Jack Bradley, who's in his first year of PhD, also presented his poster titled 'Quantifying functional lifetime of genetically modified microbes in bioproduction'.

The two days went quickly, and the robotic demonstrations attracted a lot of interest from potential students, and their parents, who sometimes felt very passionate about new technologies: AI and Robotics.

This successful event allowed students to enhance their presentation skills and gave them the opportunity to impress members of the public with their research.

Dr Marcello Calisti

Marcello is Associate Professor of Agri-Robotics at the University of Lincoln, and Affiliate Professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy. He is/has been PI of several national and international projects (BBSRC, IUK, SBRI, AgriTech Global, NatGeo, etc.) focussing on modelling, designing, deploying and empowering soft and bio-inspired robots. He has also been involved in several European and Italian projects related to soft and underwater robotics.

Marcello has published more than 30 papers in ISI journals and several conference and book contributions, and is the author of 3 patents. He has been an IEEE Member since 2007, a National Geographic Explorer since 2017, and a FHEA since 2021. l

In his spare time, Marcello likes sports, and dreams of building a robot able to compete in triathlon.

Robotlux - an AgriFoRwArdS Student spin out

AgriFoRwArdS Student Elijah Almanzor has been working with colleagues in the Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL) at the University of Cambridge to form a robotics-as-a-service spint out to solve real-world agri/food problems.

The company, Robotlux, are developing innovative solutions to hard automation problems. Expertise within the team include sensing, control and soft robotics, expertise that would be highly beneficial to real food production and manufacturing.

The team are looking to contact agri-food growers, processors and manufacturers to discuss the labour challenges faced, for which they can then formulate bespoke robotic solutions.

One company we worked with were experiencing problems with hiring and maintaining labour for picking and placing onions for processing. We proposed a robotic arm with a soft suction cup to not only locate, and place the onions in the right positions, but also their orientation.

So if you think they might be able to help you, or you're interested in hearing more, get in touch via their website - robotlux.co.uk

Have you thought about joining the Institution of Agricultural Engineers?

The Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) is the only professional body for those working in engineering, science and technology in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, grounds care and other specialised land-based industries. Whether its tractors and combines or autonomous horticultural technology and soil science, the Institution covers it all, the common theme being the land.

As a professional Institution they organise a variety of content for their members, such as conferences, seminars, awards, podcasts, etc. They publish the Landwards journal for their members, a quarterly publication packed with articles covering many diverse areas, from student projects to ground breaking agri-tech. They also own and publish a leading international academic journal Biosystems Engineering.

Exciting news for 2024 will be the renowned IAgrE annual Landwards Conference entitled “Why we need agricultural engineers.” The conference takes place at Rothamsted Conference Centre on 1st November and will look at the challenges and barriers engineers face contributing to sustainable food production. The conference will concentrate on highlighting what engineers need to focus on in the future. Go to https://iagre.org/conference-2024 to find out more and book.

IAgrE is licensed by both the Engineering Council and the Society for the Environment to award professional recognition, such as CEng. If you’re proud of your achievements, then why not get yourself registered, top employers expect it and fully support it, it will also help your career development.

They provide support for education and training in our sector such as recognition and accreditation of training courses, apprenticeships, degrees, etc. and advise on course content to ensure the learning material is right for industry.

“At IAgrE we pride ourselves in providing a personal tailored service to our members, with us you are very much a name not a number. We’re a close knit sector and being part of IAgrE is a great way of networking across many different businesses and sectors.

Supported by major businesses and educational establishments in the UK and overseas, we continue to be a voice for our profession, with people development and professionalism as our prime focus. Whether you’re in academia, education, research or industry, we are the experienced professional home for engineers, scientists and technologists for the land-based industries,” said Charlie Nicklin CEO.

Visit their website for more information, www.iagre.org.

AgriFoRwArdS Students are now entitled to free IAgrE membership, which is subsidised by the Douglas Bomford Trust.

Agri-TechE upcoming events

Agri-TechE have an exciting event upcoming to which the AgriFoRwArdS community is invited. Students in particular may benefit from the event, especially from the 'commercial journey of solutions onto a farm' session and hearing from Small Robot Company.

Ag101 - An Introduction to the Industry – 17th September, in-person, Cambridge.

Ag101 is a soft-landing introduction for professionals wanting to learn more about the agriculture and horticulture industry. This whole-day event will help you to understand the challenges and needs of this dynamic space, the opportunities that technology can offer it, and how to get it "on-farm".

Key sessions include: Spotlight on farmer and support network; Engaging with the wider supply chain, The innovation pipeline.

AgriFoRwArdS students are eligible for discounted tickets. Email the agriforwards team on agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk for more information on how to access the discount.

Funding calls now open for Agri-Tech Global and LINCAM

Ceres Agri-Tech is pleased to announce that its June 2024 Call for Lincam Ceres Agri-Tech Projects and Proof of Concept Awards are now open for applications from researchers at its partner Universities, Lincoln and Cambridge and all other UK Universities and HEIs.

In addition its Agri-Tech Global funding call is also open to translate agri-tech research from the Universities Lincoln, Cambridge and UEA to build academic and commercial links to support the onward development and commercialisation of their agri-tech innovations. For more details on call deadlines, scope for each scheme and EOI application forms please visit ceresagritech.org.

Both funding streams are open to AgriForwards CDT students who wish to develop and commercialise the agri-tech innovations from their PhDs. In the last call CDT student Will Rohde was awarded Lincam Proof of Concept funding to develop a variable rate fertiliser tool for lettuce growing. Ceres Agri-Tech will also be offering training and support sessions this autumn for AgriForwards CDT students who would like to know more about how to translate their research. For more information and to register please email: info@ceresagritech.org.

Ceres Agri-Tech, founded and based at Cambridge Enterprise, has an established track record for the translation of world leading science. It has developed an extensive pipeline of high quality, high tech agri-tech assets with global potential, launched four agri-tech spin-out companies to date (Fruitcast, Agaricus Robotics, Cellexcel and Robofruits.ai) and created a wealth of patent and licensing opportunities. Ceres Agri-Tech provides translational funding and commercialisation expertise to accelerate high-quality plant agri-tech research to market.

Lincam Ceres Agri-Tech, led by the University of Lincoln with the support of Department of Engineering, Cambridge University and is funded by a £4.9m Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Place Based Impact Acceleration Account award. Whilst impact must be in Lincolnshire or Fenland, East Cambs and Peterborough, this funding is open to academics from Universities and EPSRC approved Research Translation Centres across the UK to develop and commercialise their crop-based agri-tech innovations from the lab bench to farmers fields. Both Project and Proof of Concept awards are available.

Agri-Tech Global is a new £1.5m fund from Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund (CCF) RED fund to help develop and commercialise Agri-Tech from the East of England region to international markets. This funding is open to academics from Universities of Lincoln, Cambridge and UEA only in the form of small, medium and large project funding.

Calls are open for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for both Lincam Ceres-Agri-Tech and Agri-Tech Global funding.

If you have any comments, information or news you wish to share with the AgriFoRwArdS community, please do get in touch - We'd love to hear from you.

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT Delivery Team - agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk

Visit us on the web at www.agriforwards-cdt.ac.uk and don’t forget to subscribe to the AgriFoRwArdS CDT YouTube channel, and follow us on LinkedIn.