Name: Agri-tech networking
Start: 2025-09-24T11:45:00+01:00
End: 2025-09-24T15:00:00+01:00
Location: Cockle Park Farm, Newcastle University

Cockle Park Farm, Newcastle University’s flagship research facility, located 18 miles north of Newcastle, spans 271 hectares and is renowned for its commitment to sustainable farming practices.
Join us for a dynamic networking event to grow your network and discover collaboration opportunities in the arable and livestock sectors. This event is a great opportunity to:
-Meet like-minded professionals
-Discover new opportunities: exchange ideas, explore potential partnerships and grow your network
-Share your expertise: make valuable connections that could lead to exciting new collaborations
Meet Bryan Parkes, Head of Innovation Acceleration, Zespri International
Bryan Parkes from Zespri International will join us to explore collaboration opportunities through the ZAG Innovation Fund—Zespri’s global vehicle for accelerating sustainable innovation across the kiwifruit value chain. The ZAG Innovation Fund offers non-equity funding to support development or testing of solutions transferred from other industries to test their value to the kiwifruit industry. Zespri also has global experts in kiwifruit innovation and technology deployment that can help grow your business idea. They use a Venture Clienting model, where they want to be your first kiwifruit customer, rather than seek to take equity in your business.
The UK Agri-Tech Centre will facilitate 1:1 meetings for selected UK companies aligned with ZAG’s strategic priorities. If you are interested in setting up a 1:1 meeting with Bryan Parkes, please email the UK Agri-Tech Centre’s International Business Development Manager, James Kayam ([email protected]).
Farm tour and demonstrations
Following the networking lunch, you can join an optional tour of Cockle Park Farm, exploring innovative agriculture technologies and practices that address productivity, sustainability, and environmental stewardship:
-Agroforestry Field: Integrating trees into cropping and livestock systems for multiple benefits.
-Biomass Connect Project: Exploring optimal species and varieties for sustainable biomass production.
-Tillage Trials: Comparing soil management techniques using real-time soil sensors and LoRaWAN technology to monitor soil health and nutrient levels.
-Regenerative Agriculture Research Assets: Showcasing assets from the UK Agri-Tech Centre that trial a range of regenerative farming techniques that can benefit crop and soil health.
-CDIAL (Centre for Digital Innovation Applied to Livestock): Showcasing advanced digital technologies that enable the automated measurement of animal performance to enhance productivity, quality, and profitability in livestock production.
Don’t miss this opportunity to strengthen your ties within the agri-tech community and see emerging technologies in practice working to enhance our food systems. We look forward to seeing you there!