Raising the role of agri-tech jobs at New Scientist Live

Hundreds of organisations linked to the innovative use of science and technology in industries as diverse as agriculture, medicine and the Armed Forces were on hand to immerse around 22,000 visitors in their worlds of work.

The Future of Food and Agriculture area has proved a major attraction in recent years, with John Deere’s large machinery and farming simulators and KWS’ DNA extraction from strawberries making welcome returns. We were there, too, providing another insight into the technology used in our industry by talking attendees through the skills and knowledge needed to be a Livestock Scanner.

Engaging challenges for young scientists

Scientists, young and not so young, rose to the challenge of matching ultrasound images of a variety of different foetuses with their parent organisms. That achieved, mainly correctly, they moved on to matching up gestation periods and discussing why it might be important for farmers to use the information gained from scanning. 

Many participants were amazed to discover how many lambs a sheep can have. They then looked at how the number of offspring might affect how the farmer looks after his sheep later in gestation. They were also fascinated to talk about how farmers used the information gained from scanning differently from the medical sector. 

We shared our stand with Lantra and had some other technology on show, including a needle-less vaccinator and a scanning machine, and youngsters were queueing up to find out more about them. They quickly picked up how to interpret the light and dark areas of the scans as fluid and solid structures, using my arm and bones as a test subject!

Overall, the event was a triumph of collaboration for all the organisations in the Future of Food and Farming Zone. Contributing organisations shared spaces, expertise and equipment to make the experience as immersive and engaging as possible for all attendees. An excellent preparation for the event, overseen by the Farmers Weekly team, meant that all the exhibitors could effectively signpost to each other according to the interests of their visitors.

Knowledge trail providing an insight into our food production

The zone’s knowledge trail also went down well with school groups, families and individuals, with all of them rising to the challenge of the technology-related questions posed across the area.

A phenomenal amount of completed trails were rewarded with stickers and sweets for newly clued-up and keen agriculturalists and horticulturalists, young and old(er). 

It really was fantastic to see our agriculture and horticulture represented so positively in such a huge and influential careers event in the capital. And being part of that representation was a really rewarding experience too, as I was continually impressed by the levels of interest in farming and growing shown by so many of the young people there. Roll on 2025!