The livestock and aquaculture sectors’ research and innovation 11 priorities have been identified in a new report.
“Livestock and Aquaculture Innovation: shaping the next ten years”, a UK Agri-Tech Centre report, with input from over 150 stakeholders was published today (July 17), outlining 11 priorities for the industries’ sustainability and resilience, including:
- Animal health and welfare
- Food safety, quality and nutritional content
- Climate-smart solutions, ecosystem and biodiversity improvement
- Optimised diets, land performance and systems
- Productivity, data assets and technology
These priorities are mapped to the UK Agri-Tech Centre’s strategic themes: One Health, Sustainable Production, Resilient Systems and Intelligent Agriculture. The report also specifies sector-level priorities for dairy, beef, sheep, pig, poultry and aquaculture, and outlines the necessary research, development and innovation landscape required to support them.
Phil Bicknell, the UK Agri-Tech Centre CEO, says:
“Agri-tech innovation has significant potential to support sustainable and resilient livestock and aquaculture systems, but to do so, we must get ahead of the curve and anticipate tomorrow’s challenges today.
This report acts as a catalyst for stakeholders across the supply chain to come together and explore solutions for these sectors. We are committed to working collaboratively with industry in response to our findings and to make headway on the innovation priorities identified. The steps we take now will shape the future, addressing pressures in areas such as animal health and maximising opportunities in others, for example, engineering biology.”
Dr Grace O’ Gorman, the UK Agri-Tech Centre Head of External Relations, says:
“In the next ten years we must accelerate the development of sustainable, resilient systems that support global food security and one health. The livestock and aquaculture sectors face multiple challenges from the increasing demand for food and pressure to reduce and reverse environmental impact.
The wide-ranging priorities described in this report are also cross-cutting and highlight the need for research to create a better evidence base to support the development of interrelated, systems-level solutions, while also accounting for the sector-specific requirements of livestock and aquaculture production.
This is a fundamental approach to tackling innovation over the next ten years and beyond and is in harmony with the UK Agri-Tech Centre’s formation, which leverages cross-sector expertise and the capacity to drive innovative agri-tech research, development and adoption. By connecting science, business, funders and policymakers, we will build on the shared priorities raised in this report and identify opportunities with our stakeholders to drive impactful change.”