Missouri State Challenge – do you have a solution?

Ahead of a mission to the UK, the Missouri Farm Bureau has outlined a number of state priorities where the agri-tech could provide a solution. Agri-TechE is hosting a meeting with the delegation during the June mission and is offering an opportunity for organisations within its ecosystem to pitch their responses to eight key challenges as part of the Missouri State Challenge. 

Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE, comments: “We have built a strong relationship with the agri-tech cluster in St Louis and have complementary skills. By opening a discussion about the challenges that are of greatest concern to them we anticipate a deeper level of engagement.”

The Missouri delegation will include farmers, policymakers, research institutes and other organisations from the agri-tech cluster, and will come to Cambridge on 22nd June 2023.

At the working meeting in the afternoon there will be a discussion of the challenges and a chance to showcase potential solutions. This will be followed by a short tour of Cambridge led by David Ellerton, whose day job is the Technical Development Manager at Hutchinson.  To round off the day there will be an opportunity to continue discussions over drinks and dinner.

The Missouri State Challenge – Agri-TechE is seeking potential agri-tech solutions to 8 key state priorities

The Missouri Farm Bureau seeks to:

1. Control destructive pests – black vultures and feral hogs are threatening crops and young livestock – Missouri is looking for ways to deter pests and reduce population sizes.
2. Increase international trade – potential solutions could involve validating and authenticating produce, digital passports to increase transparency and tracking, improved methods for online payment triggered by receipt of goods.
3. Add value to farm production – interested in options for increasing the nutritional content of crops, diversifying food components, precision poultry rearing.
4. Overcome delays reaching markets – potential for technologies that extend shelf-life and improve post-harvest storage, better logistics and forecasting.
5. Increase and sustain farm incomes – potential for precision agriculture to reduce inputs and approaches to improve soil health and crop resilience.
6. Introduce science-based reforms to enhance animal welfare – potential for advanced breeding, precision breeding, animal health advances, detection of bovine TB and Johnes Disease, precise delivery of medicines
7. Increase energy production on farm – technologies may include bioenergy generation, anaerobic digestion.
8. Improve connectivity for rural Missourians – Alternative technologies for improving communications, greater use of space-tech, creating local networks.

If you can offer a solution to a Missouri State Challenge, then do get in contact with us.

The delegation from Missouri met members of Agri-TechE and guests in 2022