Spreading the CHAP message at IAgrM Kent meeting

The event was Chris’s first contact with IAgrM and it proved to be well worth the long drive from York to rural Kent.

The meeting was held in a converted historic barn and Chris was one of just two speakers, addressing an audience of land agents, agronomists and farmers.

The first speaker was a farmer whose business covered arable crops with a significant area of apples and pears. He told delegates that while the apple market was challenging it was key to his business. Investing in a packhouse operation (along with two other farmers) had made it possible to add value to their produce and employ 40 people packing apples for budget retailer Aldi.

He praised the supermarket’s policy of using the same bags for all their apples, rather than having different ones for each variety. This made packing runs longer while still identifying the produce as UK grown.

Chris’s presentation began with a general introduction to CHAP and its capabilities, and then he went into more detail to highlight CropMonitor Pro and the vertical farming facilities.  The attendees were interested in funding, collaborative projects and CHAP’s general view of R&D in the UK. They were particularly interested in vertical farming as a diversification opportunity and whether sustainability and profitability could be achieved by this type of production.

There was also a lively discussion about CHAP and Fera’s CropMonitor Pro and the future of decision support systems in agriculture.

If you have any questions about working with CHAP, please send us an email using the enquiries form at the bottom of our homepage.