AGRITECH
Agriculture is looking more and more at these types of circular solutions – we only have one planet and all our food is created from these resources"
shortages and will also require fewer artificial fertilisers. To help with this, we are seeing more farms using anaerobic digesters; these convert crop waste into biogas. A by- product is a rich digestate, which can be used instead of fertiliser on the soil. These systems are a win-win. Nothing goes to waste on the farm, the energy is very ‘green’ and the soil benefits from what is left over. Agriculture is looking more and more at these types of circular solutions – we only have one planet and all our food is created from these resources. It is often not realised that the majority of the British landscape has evolved from interaction over thousands of years between man and nature; the two are mutually dependent. The meadows around Cambridge are
maintained by grazing, the Fens created by draining. We need to move away from considering agriculture as something separate from the natural environment and look more closely at how nutrients flow through the food system. Living systems provide many opportunities for capturing and using greenhouse gases, for example, we just need to think about the challenges in new ways. Innovative thinking is needed and creating solutions is a huge market opportunity. Members of Agri-Tech East are leading the development of this rapidly growing sector. One Agriculture is the theme of Agri-Tech East’s REAP conference being held during November at Rowley Mile Conference Centre, Newmarket CB8 0TF. For more info on this annual event, visit reapconference.co.uk
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