What solutions does the UK agri-supply industry want to achieve resilience?

Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), the trade body for the UK agri-supply industry, has unveiled an action plan for delivering a resilient UK agriculture and food system.

The plan aims to provide insight for companies operating in the major agri-supply sectors – combinable crops, crop protection and agronomy, fertiliser, seed and animal feed – helping them to enhance their sustainability credentials while becoming more efficient and fit for the future.

Data, data, data

What innovations does AIC see as crucial? First concerns data, which has become indispensable for the agri-supply industry to meet the complex challenges of feeding a growing population while improving efficiency, sustainability, and profitability across the entire supply chain.

By collecting and analysing data, for example, farmers can optimise inputs like fertilisers and improve overall productivity.

Alongside this, public and private sector bodies are increasingly making sustainability commitments and need data to support their sustainability claims.

The amount of data being collected by businesses to meet both policy and market demand is growing “exponentially”, the report says, and there is an increasing demand for this data to be reported on, requiring systems to be in place to facilitate this. “The pace of change can at times feel relentless,” the AIC notes. It says that global ESG regulations have increased by 155% in the last 10 years and 647% since 2000.

Systems need to be configured to enable a compatible approach to the gathering and reporting of data to multiple sources, the action plan says, enabling consistent data to flow upstream and downstream through the food system.

The report calls for a standardised approach to sustainability data combined with simplifying and streamlining reporting. To ensure “seamless” data reporting and compliance with legislation and standards, it recommends businesses implement a sustainability management system which can be used to design, implement, and improve sustainability practices.

In addition, it suggests its members explore the potential for automation of data gathering using market produced platforms/tools. It also wants to encourage cross-industry collaboration on how data could be communicated in the supply chains.

Innovations to reduce waste in systems

Data is further needed to accelerate innovations in circularity, which can also deliver the greenhouse gas savings demanded.  

According to AIC, the sector should both look to apply circularity within production to maximise resource recovery and share sustainability data with other value chain actors.

The greatest scope for improved circularity, it says, lies in improving the efficiency of recovering nitrogen from organic materials such as manures, sewage sludge and digestate. The industry is investigating the potential for combining processed nutrients with mineral fertilisers. This includes

AIC and members exploring opportunities for further recovery of nutrients from UK sewage treatment works.

Supporting regen ag

Consumers and retailers are increasingly demanding products with lower environmental footprints. The value chain is responding through initiatives such as encouraging suppliers to adopt regenerative farming practices.

The agri-supply industry is increasingly supporting and investing in regenerative agriculture practices, AIC notes. But it is also looking to counter the perception that a regenerative or sustainable approach is about less or no inputs, rather than using them in a more effective or efficient manner. It wants to Facilitate a discussion on how to address any evidence gaps on the impact of regenerative practices.

Accelerating precision breeding

The UK government recently announced the next steps​​​ toward implementing the Precision Breeding Act, which aims to harness the benefits of gene editing technology in England.

AIC says it wants to continue to explore research and development opportunities for seed treatments as well as precision breeding to broaden the scope of crop varieties and to accelerate the delivery of special traits to market.

The Sustainability Action Plan is available for download on the AIC website​.