New boss lined up for UK's farming and aquaculture innovation centre
Farming and aquaculture innovation body the UK Agri-Tech Centre has announced that Marks and Spencer’s head of agriculture and fisheries sourcing, Steve McLean, is to become its new chief executive.
UK Agri-Tech works alongside food producers, SMEs, industry, government and world-class research institutions to accelerate impactful agri-tech innovation, including innovation in aquaculture.
It is part-funded by the UK government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, and its facilities include the Marine Aquaculture Innovation Centre (MAIC) at Loch Fyne, which is operated in partnership with Otter Ferry Seafish Ltd.
Rapid transformation
McLean, who takes up his new role in late January next year, said: “I’m honoured to be joining the UK Agri-Tech Centre at such a pivotal time for British agriculture.
“The sector is undergoing rapid transformation, and the organisation plays a vital role supporting the development of agri-tech innovation, which helps farmers and food producers meet the challenges of sustainability, productivity and resilience.
“I look forward to working with our partners across the industry to accelerate progress and deliver real impact.”
MAIC
MAIC houses six 25m³ and twelve 2m³ rearing tanks, each equipped with programmable lighting and feed delivery, water oxygenation, waste feed collection and CCTV video monitoring. The full-strength seawater supply is mechanically filtered and UV-sterilised before use and can be chilled when required.
MAIC is adaptable to studying diverse topics for temperate marine aquaculture species. Examples include feed ingredient evaluation; validation of operational welfare indicators; assessment of genetic strains; prototype testing; diagnostics testing; piloting of harvest and post-harvest methodologies; and development of rearing protocols for ‘new’ species.
Close environmental control helps to ensure reliable study data, with little variation among tank replicates. In the case of Atlantic salmon, longitudinal studies can be carried out from smoltification to harvest.
MAIC facilities are available year-round to aquaculture producers, technology suppliers and researchers, with options for both contract research and collaborative R&D.
'Stop treading water'
At the Aqua Nor trade show in Trondheim, Norway, in August, UK Agri-Tech aquaculture lead Martin Sutcliffe delievered a talk titled ‘Stop treading water – the next wave in responsible aquaculture’ which called for action in support for developing an aquaculture innovation farm in Scotland.
The talk outlined key initiatives that the UK Agri-Tech Centre is involved in such as the Automated Seeding and Deployment of Novel Seaweed Spores project, Novel Seaweed Chicken Feed, and MAIC, emphasising the need for collaborative innovation to drive sustainable aquaculture.
