Martin attended the 2nd meeting of the EU Short Food Chain in Scotland on 21st-23rd April https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en/content/innovative-short-food-supply-chain-management
The programme included workshops sessions on how to facilitate the growth of short food chains in Europe as well as future research needs and the potential to develop EIP Operational Groups to address challenges in short food chains.
read moreMartin Collison spoke today at the InCrops Agri-Tech Innovation unlocked conference on the challenges of delivering innovation in the agri-food sector. This event which marked the end of the InCrops project after 7 years, celebrated the successes the project has had as the only UK ERDF project with international partners, the longest lasting and one of the few to hit all the targets set for business engagement. Having helped develop the project and worked with it throughout its life Martin was very pleased to be able to speak at the event at the conclusion of a successful programme. InCrops also led to the creation of the Adapt Group at UEA which will continue to deliver work in the same area in the future.
read moreCollison and Associates are very pleased to welcome the announcement of Leader funding for West Norfolk.
read moreMartin Collison spoke at the first Lincolnshire Farming Conference on 12th March on behalf of Greater Lincolnshire LEP to promote the wide range of new grant funding which is available for farming and rural companies.
read moreMartin Collison spoke at the Edge Conference on 11th March about the need for skills provision to look to the future. Speaking alongside Dr David Llewellyn, Vice Chancellor of Harper Adams University, Alistair Taylor of the Institute of Agricultural Engineers, Farmers Weekly Farmers Apprentice winner Will Hinton and Dan Corlett, of Bright Crop, the conference celebrated 2 years of the Edge Apprenticeship programme which has placed 448 apprentices with 351 employers. It has also trained 125 industry ambassadors to promote careers in food and farming and communicated its message to an estimated 53,000 people..
read more Inder Poonaji, Head of Sustainability at Nestlé UK & Ireland to speak at AgriTech Water Event
“Producing, Processing and Packaging: Managing future water needs”
Water is a finite resource and deciding how it is allocated is naturally contentious especially for farmers and food processors where it is a vital resource.
Martin Collison spoke at the Rural Norfolk in Business conference on Friday 23rd January on the potential of technology in creating economic opportunities for businesses in rural Norfolk. In a wide ranging presentation he covered the role Norfolk has in leading the AgriTech sector as well as newer areas such as the potential to see the ageing of the population as a significant market opportunity and the forthcoming roll out of 4G mobile phone signals as potential enablers of significant change in the rural economy.
read moreThe Farming Minister George Eustice MP visited Lincolnshire on Thursday (15th January) to launch a new body which will champion the area’s food producers.
read moreMartin Collison is on the steering group which is working with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to organise a 2 day symposium in London on 21st-22nd October 2015 to explore the challenges of meeting the increased global demand for food without adversely affecting global biodiversity. The event will bring together scientists, conservationists, the food industry and policy makers to discuss how increased food demand, driven by population growth and changes in diet, can be met without leading to more land use change – the largest single cause of biodiversity loss. Do we need to change dietary choices, use science to increase yields, reduce food waste or a combination of all of these? What role should the food industry play and what can governments and the research community do to help address these challenges? These and many other questions will be central to what should be a very informative 2 days.
read moreMartin Collison helped lead a session on water resources at the launch even for AgriTech Week at the Suffolk Showground today. One of two workshops following an opening address by NFU Vice President Guy Smith, the workshop was run by the agritech water cluster at UEA with whom Martin is working. AgriTech Week is being led by AgriTech East to showcase the breadth of innovation being developed in the East of England to promote productive sustainable agriculture.
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