UK farming and agriculture stand at a critical juncture. The sector’s commercial viability is under pressure and dependent on its ability to balance competing tensions. Against a backdrop of already tight margins, the industry must increase food supply, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect and enhance nature and biodiversity - all the while improving productivity and efficiency.
Barclays argues that agriculture technology (Agritech), a sector estimated to be worth £13bn1, has the potential to address these challenges, safeguarding farming’s future and in turn the UK’s long-term food security – but only if it can be supported with an enabling policy environment.
What is agritech?
Agritech includes software and precision farming tools, to methane and carbon capture technologies.
Policy recommendations
Barclays is urging government to adopt three key recommendations to spearhead the development and adoption of this critical lever, including:
Agritech in action
Through Barclays Climate Ventures, Barclays has invested in Agricarbon, a carbon measurement company, which samples agricultural soil and natural landscapes to measure and verify soil carbon content. In doing so, it provides reliable and high-integrity data to the carbon marketplace. Agricarbon is part of Barclays’ Unreasonable Impact programme.
The industry is at the sharp end of multiple demands, with farmers being asked to do more with less. The government’s live Land Use consultation is one example, which requires a proportion of land to be moved away from agriculture whilst maintaining food production. Consequently, farmers must rethink how to maximise their existing acreage.
As the government develops its 25-year agriculture roadmap and national food plan, Agritech could prove to be a crucial enabler.
There is widely held optimism for the UK’s Agritech sector, with many exciting examples of how next generation innovations are already transforming the industry, including companies supported through Barclays Climate Ventures and its Unreasonable Impact programme, but there are significant challenges in scaling and deploying these technologies for both farmers and Agritech developers.
Five key challenges
Barclays’ report, Agritech: supporting the future of farming, highlights five key challenges:
1. Confidence and clarity
Both farmers and Agritech developers lack confidence in, and clarity about government strategy and implementation.
2. Ecosystem disconnect
The Agritech ecosystem, including developers, farmers and investors, fails to collaborate effectively, hindering the creation of viable solutions for the entire value chain.
3. Talent
There is a shortage of skilled and trained people, compounded by an inadequate talent pipeline coming from university and technical degrees, which hinders the development and adoption of Agritech solutions.
4. Finance
High upfront costs and unclear return on investment are barriers for farmers, while Agritech companies also face funding challenges.
5. Supply chain
The supply chain could play a critical role in enabling and scaling Agritech, through farmer incentives and businesses delivering on headline sustainability commitments, but is not currently doing so.
If the government can create the right ecosystem to address these, it will prove to be a meaningful step forward in supporting the future of UK farming.
Barclays’ Group Policy Development team creates public policy thought leadership content on behalf of Barclays. The work draws on the bank’s expertise, data and insights, and is intended to inform the design and application of public policy solutions in response to pressing economic and societal challenges.
Footnotes:
- UK AgriTech Centre. Future of AgriTech Report. April 2024.
- The UK Agri-Tech Centre combines three centres of excellence, including: Agricultural Engineering, Precision and Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI), Crop Health and Protection (CHAP), and Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL)