A new report has set out eight research priorities to boost the food and farming sector.

Feeding the Future, Four Years On, was launched at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference in Birmingham this week.

It urges government and research providers to invest in agricultural research and development and to enable British agriculture to boost its competitiveness, resilience and profitability.

“Farming and agriculture is already an incredibly innovative industry but it remains very important that farmers recognise new opportunities for better returns, such as those developed from the Agri-Tech Strategy,” said NFU vice president Guy Smith.

Among the priorities listed are digital, data-driven and engineering technologies, crop and livestock genetics and breeding, management of crop weeds, pests and diseases and interactions between air, soil, water and crop/animal processes.