Agri-Food Centre of Excellence

Building on the success of the University of Lincoln's Holbeach campus, home to the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, this project has created a Centre of Excellence which delivers innovation support services and research, along with relevant skills provision, for Greater Lincolnshire's Agri-Food businesses.

The centre promotes the rapid uptake of advanced technologies to ensure the sector remains competitive, primarily through facilitating the adoption of robotics and automation along with other innovative technologies across the food supply chain. Located on, and central to, the developing South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone (FEZ) in Holbeach, the University’s facilities and expertise are accessible to businesses on the FEZ and across Greater Lincolnshire and wider areas, promoting increases in sector GVA.

The University of Lincoln already has well established, positive working relationships with over 250 leading food businesses, including Nestle, Greencore, Moy Park, McCains, Princes, and a number of supermarkets, and the Agri-Food Centre of Excellence provides them the opportunity to access expertise and facilities to contribute to the strategy for developing R&D in the agri-food sector, and also to invest in technology with confidence.

£2.4million was awarded to the University of Lincoln to contribute to the Agri-Food Centre of Excellence project, which was completed in early 2021. The building comprises a net space area of 1,350sqm of accommodation housing; a chemistry laboratory, food microbiology laboratory and preparation rooms; test kitchen and sensory suite; conference, seminar and board rooms; a learning resource centre and computing laboratory. The project helps to strengthen research, technological development and innovation, and aid the development and competitiveness of a world-leading UK industry in Greater Lincolnshire.