The latest Explorer Forum, which took place at Norwich Research Park, in September, brought academia, industry and the farming community together to investigate ways to analyse soil health and the soil microbiome and consider benefits to the agriculture industry.
Organised by the Dr Monika Chhetry, Science Collaboration Manager, for Anglia Innovation partnership, the campus management company, and facilitated by Downstream Innovation an organisation that supports companies to innovate, Explorer Forums are a full day facilitated-workshop structured with group sessions to generate ideas that can be developed into tangible outputs.
This latest Explorer Forum looked at ways to use soil testing to inform decisions made on farms, allowing farmers to carefully analyse their soil and consider ways to achieve better efficiency with their crops; preventing loss of yield and ultimately growing healthier plants.
Dr Monika Chhetry said, “Its been a fantastic opportunity to see academics working with industry to try to turn our cutting-edge science into practical applications for farmers. I can’t wait to see where the follow up conversations, arising from the forum, lead!”
Anglia Innovation Partnership has run a series of Explorer Forums, over the last 12 months, that have brought together individuals involved in research, and industry, to encourage collaboration and facilitate discussions to help come up with solutions to some of the key challenges being faced in agriculture, health and climate change.
