Committee visits institute to explore innovation and technologies in Scottish agriculture

• Inquiry: The future of Scottish agriculture post-Brexit
• Scottish Affairs Committee

Roundtable discussions

The James Hutton Institute is a globally renowned innovation and transformative science agricultural institute. The Scottish Affairs Committee will meet researchers focusing on environmental, crop and food science that could be a catalyst for Scotland's agriculture sector to improve productivity on farms and make them more sustainable. The Committee will be given a tour of the James Hutton Institute and will then host a private roundtable with academics, scientists and representatives from SEFARI; a consortium of globally renown research institutes in Scotland. The roundtable will take place in Scotland's first "vertical farm" - designed by agri-tech business Intelligent Growth Solution - based at the James Hutton Institute.

Chair's comments

Commenting ahead of the Committee's visit, Chair of the Committee Pete Wishart MP said:

“Innovative farming techniques could help Scotland harness it's agricultural potential and become a global hub for technologies and techniques that support environmentally sound farming. My Committee will have the pleasure of visiting the first ‘vertical farm' in Scotland to investigate the importance of incorporating strategies to encourage and enable investment in new technologies like this into Scotland's post-Brexit agricultural policy.”

Vertical farms work by stacking food production in vertical layers, offering the potential benefits of reductions in water wastage, the use of pesticides and food miles. The Intelligent Growth Solutions vertical farm at the James Hutton Institute was unveiled in August 2018.

Further information 

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: Intelligent Growth Solutions