ÎÞÂ붯»­

New centre puts farmer priorities at heart of innovation research

Posted 4 December 2020

Farmers will have a bigger role in agricultural research and development that works for them, thanks to a new academic centre announced today.

The Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture (CEIA) will see ÎÞÂ붯»­ work alongside four other agricultural universities in the UK to address the gap between scientific research on innovation and real-life farming experience. The centre will focus on how research and development investment can best support innovation to be adopted by farmers.

With £1.5m of charitable funding, including from the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust and from each University, the virtual centre will be run by experts in agricultural innovation research from ÎÞÂ붯»­, the University of Reading, Royal Agricultural University (RAU), Newcastle University and the University of Warwick.

Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer, Elizabeth Creak Chair of Agri-Tech Economics at Harper Adams, said: “The CEIA provides a key opportunity to bridge the gap between agricultural research and farmer.

“Since most agricultural technology is adopted only if it is profitable and practical for farmers, ÎÞÂ붯»­ and the Global Institute for Agri-Tech Economics will play a key role helping technology developers and entrepreneurs understand farm business challenges, and help farmers to develop ways to make money using new technology."

The centre will:

• Grow a community of funders and researchers who become passionate about the practical impact of agricultural research and the uptake of innovation by farmers.
• Collate the extensive research evidence on innovation, uptake and adoption into practical guides for policy makers about effective research and innovation funding.
• Advise and support agricultural research and innovation funders, including government, to ensure their programmes are accessible to farmers and well-placed to yield results on the ground.

Paul May, Chair of the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust, said:

“As a charity dedicated to the future of farming, we meet some very dynamic farmers and researchers, who share a commitment to improving our industry’s productivity, sustainability and resilience. But what has struck us is how hard it can be to marry their efforts – there is government and commercial money for research but it is not necessarily targeted at where farmers will use and benefit from it.

“There is a growing movement of independent farmer-led innovation networks that tries to plug this gap. Rather than simply chip in ourselves to help these in a small way, we want to turn the tide by helping research funders and investors support such efforts on a large scale.”