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Argentinian breeders visit UK meat and dairy technical centre
The Palermo Agricultural and Livestock Fair sees Argentina’s best breeds compete for top prizes and is also an opportunity to showcase new technologies and farming practices
June, July and August are the winter months in the southern hemisphere, when Argentina, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay host the main livestock shows (Palermo, Esteo, Roque Alonso and Prado), which include demonstrations of the latest advances in cattle breeding and reproduction.
With this in mind, the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) organized a trade mission to England and Scotland through the British Embassy in Argentina to focus on meat and dairy production technologies. The mission was attended by representatives from the livestock chain in Latin America and the Caribbean, including experts from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Jamaica and Uruguay.
Agricultural Technology Trade Mission
The programme aims to showcase the efficiency and sustainability of the UK livestock and dairy agribusiness chain through visits to world-class research and development centres, and talks with companies specialising in technologies that drive efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability in production chains.
The UK livestock and genetics industry is considered one of the most advanced in the world for its scientific pioneering and continuous application of advanced environmental technologies. The visitors exchanged experiences with farmers of different breeds and discussed business opportunities for establishing an alliance between Argentine, Uruguayan and British companies.
Five representatives from Argentina visited the UK Agricultural Technology Center, a specialized organization that connects agricultural producers, researchers and start-up technology developers. Its main goal is to support technology-based companies to implement their solutions in real fields, test and validate their technologies to transition to the commercial stage. The center has free access to world-class facilities.
The Argentine delegation includes:
*María Dolores Brandi is the general manager of the Hampshire Downs Sheep Association of Argentina, which promotes the Hampshire Downs sheep breed.
*Agustín Vicente Casares has been the director since 1990 of the Milk Research Institute (FIL), a non-profit organization that provides research and development and commercial facilities for the dairy industry.
*Ramiro Destefanis and Mario Ledesma are respectively General Manager and Head of New Products at Villanueva, a leading distributor of agricultural and livestock products in Argentina.
*Melina Bertón is the president of Weizur, an Argentinian company based in Sorocaba, Brazil, that produces chemical, veterinary and metallurgical products for dairy farms.
En route between Bristol and Edinburgh, they were warmly received by Dave Ross, Director of International Investment, and Robert Morrison, Director of Real Estate, AgriTech Centre.
Melina Bertón, global vice president at Weizur, commented: “What I find interesting is that[in the UK]they are making a big push to use AI technology to reduce their carbon footprint. Now let’s go back and see what we can apply in our country.”
Robert Morrison, Director of Plantation at the Agricultural Technology Center, said: “We participated in this mission and continue to be very excited to work together to increase connections between countries and learn from each other. We have been working closely with our partners in Argentina through the CREA organization to help them understand the technologies we can bring to Latin America and vice versa. This includes various types of robotics, artificial intelligence and satellites. These innovations can easily be applied to other markets.”
Dave Ross, Director of International and Investment at the AgriTech Centre, added: “We have previously worked with Latin America through DBT on an initiative called ‘Smart Farms/Granja Inteligente’ where we were looking at new technologies that could be implemented to improve the productivity and sustainability of these farms. We hope that this dialogue will continue and we will receive more missions to continue exchanging experiences and showcasing the best of what the UK has to offer Latin America.”
Ramiro Destefanis, CEO of Villanueva, said: “I really enjoyed this event, I made very good contacts and this moment we live in is very interesting. We had a round of business and were able to summarize several shows in one place and have exclusive exchanges with several companies. I am very happy.”
The tour began in June in Bristol, near one of the UK Agritech facilities: the South West Dairy Development Centre. There the delegation heard presentations from Innovate UK (IUK), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and three start-ups that are developing artificial intelligence, traceability and animal health monitoring solutions. In the Birmingham area, they visited facilities at Harper Adams University, a robotic dairy and cattle genetics company.
The delegation, led by Federico Perez Wodtke, Regional Head of the Agricultural Technology Unit at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires, participated in a number of business roundtables with companies in the sector in the UK. The visit ended in Edinburgh with visits to the Royal Highland Show, the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) and the Roslin Institute.
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