The UK Food Valley hosted a delegation of Dutch businesses and agri-tech organisations as part of a three-day mission to the UK organised by the UK Embassy in the Hague and the Department of Business and Trade.

The visit included briefings on the UK Food Valley and agritech funding available from CERES Agri-tech through the LINCAM and Agri-tech Global programme. It was hosted at the Lincolnshire Institute for AgriFood Technology (LIAT), and delegates also got a tour of the Barclays Eagle Lab to meet spinouts including Fruitcast and Agaricus Robotics.

An innovative blueberry harvester, developed in Lincolnshire with Launchpad funding, was on display as well as multiple farm robot platforms in LIAT’s engineering workshops.

The visitors also toured LIAT’s robotic fruit farm where they saw demonstrations of innovation projects which are working on robot integration, autonomy and crop care.

A networking lunch linked the visitors to local innovators including B-Hive Innovations, Eyre Trailers, Fruitcast, Agaricus, Recycled Crop Nutrients and the support infrastructure at Riseholme.

In the afternoon the team travelled south through the heart of the UK Food Valley to Spalding, where leading fruit company Worldwide Fruit provided an impressive tour of its UK-leading facilities, led by Tim Jackson, Operations Director, and a member of the Greater Lincolnshire Food Board. The visit focused on its companywide ethos and the continuous improvement journey Worldwide Fruit has been on, and how this integrates technology and innovation with culture and staff engagement to drive forward business improvement.

The UK Food Valley made a lot of good connections during the visit and we look forward to working with the visitor delegation and the UK Embassy more closely in the future.