67: How data-driven agriculture will transform food production

<div>This episode will focus on data-driven agriculture and its potential to transform the ecosystem. With an extra 2.5bn of the population to feed by 2050, and grappling with increasing land degradation and water stress, set in the context of the climate challenge, we explore how data-driven agriculture can become more efficient whilst being better for environment and the economy.</div> <div> <br> Data for and from farmers has become a growth area, driving expectations and investments in big data, blockchain, technology and precision agriculture. With new sources of information such as satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile weather stations providing mountains of data, how can farmers get value from this mass of intelligence? And what are the challenges to implementation?<br> <br> </div> <div> <strong>About our panel<br> </strong><br> </div> <div><strong>Calum Murray, Head of Agriculture and Food, Innovate UK</strong></div> <div> <br> Calum is currently Head of Agriculture and Food at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk">Innovate UK</a>. He has led substantial publicly funded programmes for applied research in the agrifood sector and sat on the X Whitehall Group that delivered the 2013 AgriTech Strategy. He was an Interim Challenge Director during 2018 jointly responsible for establishing the £90m Industrial Strategy Transforming Food Production Challenge. Calum currently sits on Defra’s external R&amp;D panel, and the Agricultural Productivity Working Group within the Food and Drink Sector Council structure.</div> <div> <br> Calum studied agriculture at Aberdeen University, started his career with the Ministry of Agriculture 1982 (ADAS) moving to David Anderson &amp; Co in ‘85/86 then back north to SRUC in 1989. In 1995 he was appointed by Bank of Scotland as national agricultural specialist. Calum joined Innovate UK in Feb 2010.<br> <br> </div> <div><strong>Dr Louise Sutherland, Director, Ceres Agri-Tech</strong></div> <div> <br> Louise Sutherland is Director of the <a