Advanced Plant Growth Centre – a strategic development project

On 22 November 2018 it was announced that the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC) project - championed by the James Hutton Institute with industry and academic partners - will receive investment funding as a core project within the £300m Tay Cities Deal development programme. The project was green-lighted as part of an overall investment package of £62 million directed at two Institute-led innovation centre projects which will also see the International Barley Hub project become a reality.

This transformational investment in the research infrastructure associated with totally-controlled-environment agriculture will mean the UK can play its part in leading the science agenda around this rapidly expanding market which is expected to be worth $10 billion by 2025.

The APGC will bring together a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities that will develop the underpinning science to bring increased commercial, economic and environmental benefits to the agriculture, food and drink sectors by delivering:

• improved crops
• sustainable new ways of growing and storing existing crops, and
• reduced risk arising from the impact of climate change.

The centre embodies the idea of Agriculture 4.0, a green revolution with science and technology at its heart, and the aim of feeding future populations. It will also boost the impact of the UK’s International Development agenda.