AN exciting showcase is set to return next year - and this time, at a new venue. 

After a successful event last year, the South West AgriTech Showcase will be at the Westpoint Arena, near Exeter, on Thursday, March 21 2024. 

The event will focus on innovation and technology within agriculture, and looking at how this can improve farming businesses and profitability. 

Themes of the day include: sustainable farming practices; financial drivers for farmers; sustainable food production systems and the use of technology and innovation to improve productivity. 

Joanna Rufus, chair of South West AgriTech, said: “We will look at livestock, arable and dairy farming with a specialist in each session, alongside a farmer who has used technology to enable greater productivity, sustainability, and profitability. 

"[Our themes] fit in with our definition of agri-tech - any technology on the farm, or that crosses the threshold of the farm, for use in agriculture, horticulture, or aquaculture which increases productivity and sustainability.

"We were extremely pleased with the number of attendees at our very first showcase. The feedback we received from both the programme and marketplace has been very rewarding, so we are really looking forward to building on this for next year.”

The showcase is set to feature the newest innovations, high-profile speakers, the latest research, as well as an indoor marketplace dedicated to networking. 

Dr Robin Jackon, director of the rural business school at Duchy College, added: “Technology and innovation will enable land managers to become more efficient, productive, and thereby profitable; resilient and sustainable, and better able to protect and enhance the environment."

The South West AgriTech Showcase will be at the Westpoint arena in Clyst St Mary, near Exeter. You will be able to sign up for the event from mid January for £12 per person.