AgriTech Careers for a Sustainable Future
On Tuesday 21st March 2023, we headed to the John Innes Centre to host the AgriTech Careers for a Sustainable Future Event alongside the brilliant SAW Trust. The day aimed to showcase local agritech and innovation, whilst highlighting the range of career options available in this fast-growing sector.
We had an enthusiastic set of sixth form students attend the event from a range of schools and colleges. As part of the day the students had the opportunity to hear from a range of research scientists from the Norwich Research Park, and members of industry about the cutting edge research currently happening. We even had a vist to the Dorothea de Winton Field Station and got to see research in action, and learn more about the equipment and machinery used out on the farm.
What is AgriTech?
AgriTech combines science, technology and engineering to generate innovative ideas to help solve agricultural problems.
What jobs fall into the AgriTech sector?
Careers in agricultural technology are extremely diverse – from working on robotics and precision agriculture, sustainable energy, environmental science to genetics, human nutrition, functional foods, pharmaceuticals and synthetic biology. Specialists work together to provide sustainable solutions for global problems. On the day we heard from recruiter Anastasia Howard-Jenkins from CM Life Science discuss some of the career options available in the sector.
What challenges could agritech help us solve?
With a rapidly changing climate and rising population, improvements to sustainable agriculture will be vital to ensure global food security for the future. Agritech aims to use technology and technological advances to improve the efficiency, productivity and profitability of agriculture. To name just a few applications, AgriTech could help us to increase yields, reduce the effects of disease, improve quality of crops and increase sustainability.
Throughout the day we heard some examples of some of the problems being tackled already, including hearing from Dr Elliott Atkins from Tropic Biosciences speak about how they are using gene editing to improve the quality and increase yield in banana, coffee and rice. Dr Rachel Wells spoke about her work on Flea Beetles and her aim to find varieties of oilseed rape that are resistant to this pest. We even heard Dr Alexis Moschopoulos, cofounder and managing director of Grobotic Systems, speak about how they have created a new class of plant growth chamber to aid plant science research.
Thank you to all the fantastic speakers that took part in the day and to our funders the John Innes Foundation for supporting this exciting event!
Hear from the students!
Why do you want to take part in the event?
“The day offers an experince not offered in schools, giving me an insight into a career in the scince industry”
“I hope to make new connections with people who share my interests”
What did you enjoy most about the event?
“The range of scientists and their research, demonstrating the variety of jobs… makes me look forward to a career in biology”
“The large number of female scientists!”
“Learning about genetic modification and gene editing and the effect it will have on climate change.”