Irish-owned agritech companies, researchers and academia are truly shaping the sector and have firmly established a strong reputation for being pioneers in their field, and global business leaders are increasingly looking to them to address evolving market needs.

The Irish agritech sector employs more than 4,700 people here, and Enterprise Ireland supports approximately 130 companies who are working across a number of areas, including developing smart farming solutions, farm equipment, livestock handling and housing, crop cultivation and protection, and animal health and nutrition.

These Irish-owned companies generated sales of almost €1.6bn in 2023, with exports accounting for €1bn.

And it is no surprise that international demand for Irish agritech innovation continues to be at an all-time high as, in addition to our established reputation for being a hub for innovation, Ireland has a rich and strong agricultural heritage.

Enterprise Ireland supporting agri innovation at the National Ploughing Championships

Some of this pipeline of talent and innovation was showcased at Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena at the recent National Ploughing Championships.

A dosing gun designed to reduce medicine waste and usage, a smart weighing scales which utilises AI and image analysis to analyse animal performance and growth, and solutions focused on reducing methane emissions, were just some of the innovations showcased in this year’s Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena.

This was the 11th annual Innovation Arena at the National Ploughing Championships, and 50 Irish agritech companies, researchers and academia had the opportunity to showcase their products and solutions to thousands of visitors, including a large international audience, at one of Europe’s largest outdoor events.

Speaking about the importance of Irish agri innovators and the Innovation Arena exhibitors, Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland, said: “It is their innovations and solutions which are driving efficiencies, and helping to address global challenges by meeting growing demands for food, safeguarding our planet for future generations and ensuring farm families have good livings.

“We believe that Irish-owned enterprises can, over time, be the prime driver of the Irish economy, and Irish agritech companies and farm families will have an important role to play in that shared ambition.”

As part of its programme of activity, Enterprise Ireland was proud to host 80 international buyers from 20 different global markets, including North America, the Eurozone, and Asia, who were eager to meet and engage with these agritech innovators.

It also gave these international buyers an opportunity to learn first-hand about the important and exciting innovations, and how they can help to deliver solutions for increasing challenges in the sector, such as growing demands for food, minding our planet for future generations and ensuring sustainable futures for farm families.

This year’s Innovation Arena, hosted in partnership with the National Ploughing Association (NPA), had a focus on ‘Innovations for Future Generations’, and showcased pioneering solutions which can offer untold potential by delivering efficiencies in animal science and technology, agriengineering, digital technologies, animal health and nutrition, sustainability and climate action, and farm health and safety.

Innovation Arena awards

There was a new element to this year’s Innovation Arena, and nine companies were shortlisted as finalists for three awards.

They delivered a pitch in front of Peter Burke TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Leo Clancy, as well as the panel of expert judges and a live audience, which included representatives from the wider ecosystem and the international buyers.

Three companies competed in each of the three different categories; ‘Start-Up Innovator of the Year’, ‘Innovation Arena Champion Award’ and the ‘Green Impact Award’. And Roscommon based Reap Interactive won a €10,000 prize for its innovation BovinePlus, after being named as ‘Start-p Innovator of the Year’.

This solution tracks individual animals and uses AI and image analysis to provide real-time data on the weight, health and water intake of the animals.

The system identifies issues including underperforming animals and enhances the efficiency of the feed provided to them. The gleaned data can offer insights that can boost farm profitability and efficiency.

Speaking about their win, Kieran Supple, co-founder of Reap Interactive, described it as being “a massive deal for us, it gives us great validation for the work we are doing."

“When you are starting up a business there are a lot of challenging days, there are a lot of very lonely days, and it is great to get the validation from somebody like Enterprise Ireland, from the public as well,” he added. “And seeing all the people coming up, and actually looking at the product and saying ’yeah I think there is something in this, this is good’.”

The Enterprise Ireland ‘Innovation Arena Champion Award’, for established companies with a focus on scaling and innovation, went to Samco Agricultural Manufacturing Ltd for their innovation, a new application system and mulch film designed around establishing earlier planting and growth of potatoes, and this will ultimately enable earlier harvesting and entry to the market where growers will have a greater price premium.

Describing their product, Robert Shine, managing director of Samco Agricultural Manufacturing, said: “The Innovation is twofold, it’s a degradable mulch film, used on potato crops and horticulture, and the second part is the film layer to be able to lay that product. It is a very thin product, totally compostable, made from renewable sources.”

He said their win at the Innovation Arena was one for all the team behind it. Adding: “For the whole team it really validates what the focus is and the journey we are on as a company so that we can go back and tell people ‘yes, what we are doing is innovative and new and exciting’.”

While the new ‘Green Impact Award’ went to EASYFIX for their revolutionary slurry treatment technology, ‘ePulse’. The system employs an electro-photomagnetic treatment, which stimulates microbial activity naturally without the use of chemicals or additives, reducing ammonia and methane emissions in slurry storage systems.

Ronan Boyle, director for business development for Galway based EASYFIX said: “To win this award has been absolutely brilliant for EASYFIX. The competition was very tough, there was a lot of top-class companies that had entered, so for us to even make it to the final, we were just blown away, but to win it- it is really the icing on the cake for us at the Ploughing this year.”

Recognising Irish agritech innovations

Innovations and solutions from nine other companies who entered this year’s competition were also recognised, and were presented with a ‘Certificate of Achievement for Innovation’ for having received a minimum qualifying score for their entry. These companies were HerdSync, Herdwatch, Horse Sport Ireland, KME, M-TEC, MyGug, Precision Microbes, Tigercomb and Watt Footprint.

James Maloney is a senior development adviser in Enterprise Ireland, working closely with a number of agritech companies, and is also the Innovation Arena project manager. He said this year’s cohort of exhibitors “really highlighted how far Irish companies are moving towards digital and sustainable farming solutions."

“The quality of the innovations that were showcased by all the companies participating in this year’s Innovation Arena, will give the sector the confidence to compete for international business in the coming years,” he added.

Other highlights at this year’s Innovation Arena included the ‘Innovations for Future Generations’ panel discussion on Thursday morning, led by James Maloney.

He was joined by European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, Enterprise Ireland’s Jenny Melia, Dr Karina Pierce from UCD, and Lloyd Pearson of Pearson’s Milking Technology.

Innovation Arena Podcast

And on Thursday afternoon, there was a live recording of the inaugural ’Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Arena 2024: The Review podcast where James Maloney was joined by four exhibitors to review this year’s National Ploughing Championships and the positive impact it had on businesses and the sector.

His guests included Deirdre Wall from Brandon Bioscience, Ronan Boyle from EASYFIX, John O’Loughlin from Grassland Agro, and Therese Malanaphy, M-TEC.

Speaking on the podcast, Mr Boyle spoke about the support from Enterprise Ireland and its international network, adding that it plays "a very important role for companies like EASYFIX."

“Without the help that we receive from the different people in the different foreign offices, we could be very busy fools travelling around the world getting nowhere, so it is testament to the work that you do, that builds on the success that we have as different companies,” he said.

James Maloney added: “If we don’t have the companies, we don’t have a product to go overseas - so anything Enterprise Ireland can do in terms of talent, innovation, research and new markets, looking for value add, we are willing to help companies in any way we can. You are the export potential, and that’s our mandate.”

If you are an agritech innovator and are interested in learning about how Enterprise Ireland can support your company to grow and scale, visit www.enterprise-ireland.com