We were delighted to welcome presenter Anna Hill and the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today team to Place UK in October, as they recorded a special anniversary series celebrating 75 years of The Archers.
The programme, which aired on 13th October (listen back on iPlayer here), explored how farming might evolve over the next 75 years, with a focus on the role technology could play in tackling challenges such as labour shortages, rising costs and climate change.
During the visit, presenter Anna toured the Place UK polytunnels and greenhouses, saw autonomous robots picking raspberries and discovered how AI-powered sensors help our farm team to optimise growing conditions for our premium strawberries.
Preparing for the future of farming
At Place UK, we’re constantly preparing the business to be more resilient, to meet future challenges and look at how we can adopt new technologies and become more efficient. But, all the time, recognising that new tech must serve to complement the skills, talent and abilities of our highly trained, and specialist teams.
Active trials of new technologies are already underway, to ensure we can continue to adapt and meet challenges, while freeing up time for our skilled teams to do what they do best.
It’s important to stay at the forefront, because we know there are more challenges to come.
With extreme weather, unpredictable weather patterns and water availability increasingly on our radar – not only for us, but for all growers – we take an innovative and proactive approach to ensure we can maintain the highest produce standards, enhance productivity and ensure sustainability.
Matt Smith is our Co-Managing Director at Place UK and was interviewed for the BBC programme, along with Dan Yordanov and Stefan Arsene who together, head up our fresh team.
What Matt told Farming Today
After appearing on the Farming Today episode, Matt Smith said: “It was great to welcome Anna and the BBC Radio 4 production team, showing them around our fruit farm and to have the chance to take part in a show that’s so recognisable in our sector, and is broadcast to millions of listeners. We spoke about the innovative work that we’re actively exploring here in Norfolk, and our predictions for the future.
“As this special programme clearly shows, there’s never a dull moment or quiet day in farming. As a grower of British berries, our world is ever changing – with new challenges and opportunities to address.
“While we might have fewer dramatic plot twists than faced by the cast of The Archers, our team have plenty of interesting storylines to deal with every day. The business of fruit growing keeps us on our toes; tech is moving at pace – it’s about adapting, changing and continuing to do what we do so well; grow premium fruit at scale, and to our exacting, premium standards. We have one eye constantly looking to the future.
“This remains an exciting, innovative sector to work in, as our farm team – Dan and Stefan – were able to talk about too on air.
“Technology will, without doubt, play an increasingly important part in how we operate, as we look at ways to address labour shortages and the challenges of climate change too.
Building water resilience
“With five heat waves alone this year, and the impact that’s had on water availability, we’re acting now to implement new ways of working which, alongside the knowledge and expertise of our people, will help ensure our operations remain productive and sustainable.
“We’ve worked hard to future-proof and ensure we have in-built water resilience, with our reservoir and water filtration systems already in place, meaning we have been able to cope with the extreme, dry conditions this year. But we don’t stop there – we’re always looking ahead to what we can implement next, before the next challenge arrives.
“Looking to the future, it’s going to be about embracing innovation while staying true to what we do best and continuing to invest in a skilled, specialist workforce too – they are experts in growing high-quality British produce. We have to make sure we have the best people and human skills, expertise and knowledge in our team – people like Dan and Stefan – so we continue to learn, evolve and adapt, and be prepared to deal with whatever the next 75 years bring.”
A big thank you to the Farming Today team for visiting us at Place UK and allowing us to share how we’re embracing innovation and getting ready for the future of farming.
To listen back to the special programme series – celebrating 75 years of The Archers, featuring Place UK, go to iPlayer. Find out more about careers with us and follow us on LinkedIn for more updates.
