Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The Centre’s Mission is to establish global visibility and excellence in education and training, research and development, innovation and enterprise in precision farming and its exploitation in addressing regional, national and global farming and food security issues for the benefit of future sustainability and regard for energy conservation, environmental protection and global climate change in relation to food production needs and issues of nutrition.

Intrinsic components of the mission can be seen in relation to innovation and the opportunities to embrace technological developments and new concepts, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and its prospective role in addressing important needs for agricultural and food development. By way of instantiation, a recent study  on meeting future food security has pointed to a five-step global plan  that could double food production by 2050 while greatly reducing environmental damage. The five steps presented in this global plan are:

1. Controlling the agricultural footprint
2. Improving the yields of existing farmland
3. More effective and efficient use of resources
4. Shifting diets away from meat
5. Reduction in food wastage

Improvements in conventional farming are required to reduce adverse impact on the local and global environment, to achieve better efficiencies per unit input of resource, to achieve better ecological (holistic) management, and to find a better correspondence between food demands and supply, both locally and globally. The advancement of precision farming (PF) as a discipline for developing physical science-based tools and practices that provide interventions to improve farm productivity is fundamental to tackling these challenges. Equally significant is the role that the Internet of Things (IoT) and governance could have to play in meeting these challenges on a global basis, particularly in respect of the five step approach, with perhaps a sixth dealing with issues of distribution. 

Aims and Objectives

The Aim of the Centre is to fulfil its mission in establishing a world-class facility for education and training, research and development, innovation and enterprise in enhancing precision farming and its exploitation in addressing regional, national and global farming and food security issues for the benefit of future sustainability and regard for energy conservation, environmental protection and global climate change in relation to food production needs and issues of nutrition.

The core objectives relating to the Centre are:

1. To define and develop the principles and practice of precision farming and deliver a premier programme of internal and external education and training.
2. To establish a facility for high quality applied research and development, research training and thought leadership in precision farming, with collaborative agri-network links to other centres.
3. To establish a facility for innovation and enterprise with particular reference to translation of research findings into exploitable farm-based products and services.
4. To define, develop and deliver Centre consultancy, industry and laboratory support services with a particular focus upon regional and national business development and growth.
5. To  define, develop and deliver a facility for promoting and providing visibility for the Centre, linking with University promotion and marketing support activities, and specifically targeting precision farming and developments in an approach that brings in and exploit concepts like ‘smart’ and ‘smart integrated’ farming.