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Home » Royal Agricultural University Launches Agritech Competition With £50,000 Prize

Royal Agricultural University Launches Agritech Competition With £50,000 Prize

The Royal Agricultural University’s agritech hub has launched a competition for companies developing innovative ways to address challenges facing farmers The theme of the inaugural Farm491 Challenge Prize is ‘mixed land use’.

Companies are being encouraged to put forward business solutions, with shortlisted firms having the opportunity to pitch to a panel of academics and industry experts at the university’s campus in Cirencester at the end of the year.

The winner of the competition will receive £50,000 and the runner-up £25,000 to advance their business.

Organiser Verity Payne, operations and events manager at Farm491, said: “The aim of this exciting new series is to inspire innovators to develop ground-breaking solutions to pressing global challenges that we all face today.

“We are looking for companies that are developing innovative products and services to support nature friendly, multifunctional land use. These could include enabling agroforestry, regenerative and productive housing development, intercropping food and non-food crops, or co-producing food and renewables.’’

The prize is being supported by grant-making charity Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Will Steadman, funding manager at Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, said: “The Farm491 Challenge Prize has the potential to really amplify impact and we’re thrilled to be working with Farm491 on it. It pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with grant funding and focuses our support on where it can be catalytic.”

Entries for the competition will close on September 27. Shortlisted companies will be notified by October 9 and this will be followed by an online pitching workshop in November.

The event will culminate in a ‘pitching day’ at Farm491 HQ in Cirencester on December 5, where the winner and runner-up of the 2024 Farm491 Challenge Prize will be selected.

Professor Peter McCaffery, vice-chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), added: ‘’The RAU has been a university of purpose ever since its inception – as the Royal Agricultural College in 1845 – working with farmers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to make a practical difference on the ground.

“Cultivating care for the land is at the very heart of what we do and we are delighted to be teaming up with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, which has an exceptional record of supporting changemakers, in establishing this new challenge prize.’’

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