Speaker: Dave Ross, CEO, Agri-EPI Centre Ltd
Abstract
The Agri-Food sector is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, contributing over £38bn GVA to the UK economy and employing >400,000 people. It supports a food supply chain through to retail sector that contributes £108B GVA to the UK economy, and with it, employment for over 3.9M people.
By 2025, some market predictions anticipate the Global Autonomous Farm Equipment Market to be worth anywhere between £27 and £129 billion. This includes robotics/sensor systems for a range of commodities, from fruit and vegetables to dairy farming.
Labour shortages are also applying pressure on the sector. Around 65,000 seasonal workers pick the UK’s fruit and veg crop each year and the additional pressure of Brexit is not mitigating this.
Agri-EPI Centre is actively encouraging academic and leading industry partners (and start-ups) to research and develop autonomous solutions to a range of agri-food challenges. We are supporting “Hands Free Hectare” the world’s first completely autonomous planted through to harvested crop.
Our UK infrastructure, including commercial farms and capital facilities such as commercial incubators for new and emerging companies, is there to assist and foster developments in Robotics and Autonomous systems (RAS). Our industry member network of over 100 companies provide access to the supply chains both at home and internationally, who may be future customers for developed products.
We want to lead the way in commercialisation of RAS for agri-food and are delighted to link with expertise that can facilitate the generation of concepts through to working prototypes to meet the global sustainable food challenges we face now and in the future.
Bio
Dave Ross (BSc Hons, PDip, AMIMechE, AIAgrE, FRAgS) is Chief Executive Officer of Agri-EPI Centre Ltd, one of the new UK Centres of Agricultural Innovation, with a specific focus on Precision technologies and engineered solutions. He co-ordinates the development of the Centre in its emerging role, both nationally and internationally.
A trained engineer, Dave started his career in the defence technology sector, designing electro-optic systems. He then moved to agricultural engineering and technology in 1990, taking the opportunity of moving back to his roots (being brought up on a mixed/dairy farm). For more than 25 years he has continued to work as a Senior Research Engineer within SRUC Research Division, originally focusing on systems for crop monitoring and handling and post-harvest quality.
More recently he has focused on livestock-related technologies. He has been involved in the research and development of a number of novel and patented developments across the agricultural production sectors. Some of these have been fully commercialised, and he has assisted with aligned spin-out and new company formations.
Dave Ross (BSc Hons, PDip, AMIMechE, AIAgrE, FRAgS) is Chief Executive Officer of Agri-EPI Centre Ltd, one of the new UK Centres of Agricultural Innovation, with a specific focus on Precision technologies and engineered solutions. He co-ordinates the development of the Centre in its emerging role, both nationally and internationally.
A trained engineer, Dave started his career in the defence technology sector, designing electro-optic systems. He then moved to agricultural engineering and technology in 1990, taking the opportunity of moving back to his roots (being brought up on a mixed/dairy farm). For more than 25 years he has continued to work as a Senior Research Engineer within SRUC Research Division, originally focusing on systems for crop monitoring and handling and post-harvest quality.
More recently he has focused on livestock-related technologies. He has been involved in the research and development of a number of novel and patented developments across the agricultural production sectors. Some of these have been fully commercialised, and he has assisted with aligned spin-out and new company formations.