News Category: Insights

The festive season is a time to celebrate with loved ones, and one thing that often brings us all together is food. Whether it’s a home-cooked meal for a crowd, a dinner at your neighbour’s house or a hearty Christmas meal at the local pub, your food has been through an incredible journey to reach your plate—not just during the holidays but throughout the year. At the UK Agri-Tech Centre, we take pride in collaborating with farmers, researchers, start-ups and innovators to support the journey of your festive feast. Here’s a closer look at how we contribute to making Christmas dinner possible.   Meat For many, the main event of Christmas dinner is the meat. Whether it’s turkey, chicken, beef or any other type of meat, technology exists to help farmers to feed their animals in the most sustainable and cost-effective manner. One such project, ‘Novel Seaweed Chicken Feed’, is exploring the potential of dulse—a red seaweed—as a sustainable alternative to soy-based chicken feed. This feasibility study, involving project collaborators including MicroGrow Systems and Scotland’s Rural College, aims to improve the cost-effectiveness and environmental footprint of poultry farming. Potatoes Whether mashed, roasted or served as new potatoes, they’re a cornerstone of the Christmas meal. But it’s important to help protect them from pests in order for these potatoes to reach our plates. The ‘De-Cyst’ project is revolutionising pest management by improving the understanding and application of solanaceous trap crops for controlling Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN). Project collaborators including Produce Solutions, Harper Adams University, VCS Potatoes and innovative growers across the UK are optimising DeCyst™ trap cropping practices to outsmart PCN infestations and protect future harvests. Broccoli Love it or hate it, broccoli is a festive staple—but there’s so much more to it than meets the eye. A groundbreaking initiative is transforming surplus broccoli into a sustainable protein source. This project, led by a consortium including Upcycled Plant Protein (UPP), the UK Agri-Tech Centre and The James Hutton Institute (JHI), uses cutting-edge automation to harvest broccoli efficiently. Unused parts are upcycled into hypoallergenic, high-protein ingredients for plant-based and hybrid food products, reducing waste and environmental impact. Pigs in Blankets A festive favourite for many, pigs in blankets, often take pride of place under a generous helping of gravy. To support the welfare of post-weaning piglets, a consortium led by the UK Agri-Tech Centre, alongside the University of Leeds, the National Pig Centre, Cranswick PLC and others, is developing a sustainable alternative to zinc oxide. This innovation ensures healthy growth and survival of piglets while reducing environmental impact. Carrots and Parsnips No Christmas dinner can be complete without the appearance of carrots and parsnips, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could store them for longer? A new project aims to improve their storage and nutritional quality by exploring post-harvest techniques to replace traditional in-field storage. This initiative is spearheaded by Vegetable Consultancy Services UK Ltd in collaboration with Frederick-Hiam Ltd and the UK Agri-Tech Centre, ensuring these root vegetables remain fresh for longer. Peas and Beans Peas and beans face significant challenges from pests, diseases and extreme weather. The ‘Legumes: Sustainable Inputs for UK Legumes’ project is creating climate-resistant and environmentally friendly farming alternatives to reduce reliance on synthetic pesticides. Collaborators include the University of Warwick, Russell Bio Solutions Ltd and CABI, working together to protect legume crops and promote sustainable farming practices. For Santa (and the grown-ups): Milk: Essential for cookies and much more, sustainable milk production is key. The UK Agri-Tech Centre, alongside Oxi-Tech Solutions Ltd, has demonstrated that chemical-free water disinfection systems in robotic milking equipment can enhance efficiency and dairy sustainability. Beer: A perfect pairing for a festive toast, the quality of grain used in beer production is critical. A project led by Crover, ‘Advancing the boundaries of grain sampling: A robot for the autonomous, safe and representative sampling of grain bulks’, is revolutionising grain sampling with robotic technology that collects representative samples safely and efficiently, reducing risk and improving quality checks. Wine:The UK wine industry faces challenges such as changing climate conditions, rising labour costs and pressure to reduce reliance on chemical agents and fertilisers. The project, ‘Vineyard Information System for Technology and Automation’ (VISTA), is developing digital maps that will drive the shift to data-driven farming, providing an open source mapping protocol that can be used on any commercial vineyard in the UK or in the rest of the world. The project consortium includes Antobot, Chiltern Hills, Vinescapes, Lincoln University and The UK Agri-Tech Centre. Dinner is served. Happy Christmas.   To learn more about making Christmas dinner possible, our work and our partnerships, visit www.ukagritechcentre.com.