New 2.9m start-up business centre could transform Cirencester into the ‘Silicon Valley of agriculture-technology’

The Royal Agricultural University is fostering Farm 491, a £2.9m GFirst LEP funded scheme to bring the greatest minds in the business to Cirencester.

The money will be spent on a new state-of-the-art Rural and Agri-Tech Innovation Centre on the university campus which will house up to 40 start-up businesses with ideas of how to make agriculture more efficient, cost effective and high-yielding.

Start-ups will not just have the benefit of 491 acres of land to test their innovations, but will also be able to tap the minds of the university professors and alumni as they vie to turn their idea into a money-making business. The new build, currently in the design phase, will work with a smaller site at a farm-based campus around six miles away at Harnhill.

The UN estimates we will need to produce 70 per cent more food by 2050 in order to feed the growing world population, and agri-technology could be the solution.

Nick Holyoake (pictured), Farm 491’s interim director, hopes the project will bring a windfall to the local economy.

“There’s something in the east of England and in other places but they are more centred around research – what we are doing here is about bringing technology to business,” said Nick, who ran the project’s successful funding bid.

The challenge will be attracting the best minds out of the urban tech hubs and into the countryside.

“We know that could be difficult because the kind of people in start-ups are usually aged from 25 to 35,” admitted Nick.

“But many people at that age are done with the city anyway and want countryside life.

“We’re offering lots of land to work on, good train links and high-speed internet so we’re confident we can attract people.”

Although the new building is yet to be built, Farm 491 is ready to accept new start-ups already.

Jo Mills, head of corporate affairs at the RAU, told the Standard the agriculture sector employs 450,000 people in the UK and contributes £9billion to its economy.

She added: “The growing global agricultural technologies sector is worth $400 billion, offering export opportunities in emerging markets.”

She hopes many of the start-ups at Farm 491 will be former RAU students.

David Owen, chief executive of GFirst LEP, said: “Almost £3million of funding was successfully secured by the Royal Agricultural University after bidding for funds in the Gloucestershire Growth Deal last year, to build the pioneering Rural and Agri-Tech Innovation Centre. The innovative project will give Gloucestershire’s start-up businesses great opportunities for business growth with access to the RAU’s enviable support and knowledge base, as well as a vibrant working environment with the potential to benefit the wider land based sector.”

Simon Large, chairman of Cirencester Chamber of Commerce, said he hoped the project would help generate growth.

He said: “Any sort of inward investment in Cirencester that creates the possibility of jobs is always welcome."