Greater Lincolnshire, where the world’s first tractor was created, is now leading on the next industrial revolution in the food sector as the industry adopts digitalisation, a fact recognised in May 2021 with the award of High Potential Opportunity (HPO) status by DIT for food chain automation.

Innovation sits at the core of the UK Food Valley in Greater Lincolnshire and has seen major investments by industry and the public sector in new technologies, products, and the skills and innovation base which underpin them. The UK Food Valley is focused on innovating in key areas which drive food chain growth and sustainability, including low-carbon food chains, naturally-good-for-you foods, and the rapid deployment of digitally enabled technologies from farm to fork.

Greater Lincolnshire now has Europe’s largest team working on agrifood robotics and opened the UK’s first 5G testbed in agriculture last year. It also has UK-leading projects on supply chain digitalisation, showcasing the Trusted Bytes project, which is addressing the administration paperwork needed for post-Brexit trade with Government partners. 

Our businesses continue to invest heavily in innovation, and Saga Robotics, B-Hive, OAL, Jones Food Company, Worldwide Fruit and many others are all leaders in their field. A brand new Softripe system launched by Worldwide Fruit in 2021 is transforming the avocado business with lower waste, less energy and a more consistent product - just one of many fantastic examples developed locally.

November 2021 also saw the first spinouts from the CERES AgriTech programme with two new companies emerging from the University of Lincoln. Fruitcast uses advanced vision systems and AI to predict crop yield to help harvest management, and Agaricus Robotics are busy automating the harvesting of mushrooms. Meanwhile the Barclays Eagle Farm Lab at Riseholme ran its first accelerator programme for agritech spinouts in 2021 and in 2022 and is building on this with a larger programme supporting low-carbon technologies as well as agritech.

Our food industry is investing in plant proteins, building on Lincolnshire's historic expertise in the growing and processing of legumes and pulses. In 2021 Plant and Bean opened Europe’s largest plant protein factory in Boston, Branston Potatoes began work on a new factory to extract potato protein, and Princes completed work on a £84m growth programme. Already in 2022 we have seen Naylor Nutrition receive planning permission for a new plant protein factory near Spalding to extract protein from vegetables in a world-leading factory, and we will have announcements to make on another protein development before Easter. We are also seeing major investment in the fish sector, with international investment cementing Grimsby’s leadership in this naturally-good-for-you protein.

As well as industry, the public sector here actively supports food chain innovation, with the University of Lincoln, Bishop Burton College and colleges across Lincolnshire investing in a wide range of new innovation and educational facilities and programmes. 

Since 2016, over £70m has been invested in the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone (FEZ), University of Lincoln Riseholme Campus, Bishop Burton Showground Campus and the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology. In addition, over £60m of new industry-linked innovation projects have been initiated over the same time period, with more to come. In 2022 we will see the opening of the Centre for Food and Fresh Produce Logistics, part of the Boston Town Deal, and the new hub building at the South Lincolnshire FEZ with space for 30 SMEs to work alongside the university and industry cluster to accelerate their growth.

The development of the skills to underpin innovation is being driven by our universities and colleges, with the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology aiming to have 1,700 students a year focused on the food chain and the technologies to underpin it, such as engineering. The university is also rapidly expanding its postgraduate training in agrifood, with over 65 students now on its MSc in AgriFood Technology and a cohort of over 60 PhD students working with industry on agrifood challenges.

Finally, we were delighted to see the high profile Greater Lincolnshire’s innovation work is attracting with the University of Lincoln showcasing its work on Robofruit robotic crop harvesting at COP26 in Glasgow, one of a very small number of UK universities accorded this honour. 

The UK Food Valley is building strongly on this fantastic foundation to attract further investment from the UK and overseas as we use innovation to transform the UK food chain and drive investment. If you have a food innovation investment idea or are looking to locate your business into the heart of the UK Food Valley, visit our website or contact Halina Davies for more information.