UK Agri-Tech Centre outlines new scaleup strategy

The UK Agri-Tech Centre has set out its new priorities and focus on accelerating the commercial success of agritech startups and scaleups.

At a reception at the House of Lords on the 3^rd February 2026, new CEO Steve McLean outlined plans to build a vibrant agritech sector in the UK that boosts agricultural resilience and sustainability.

Steve McLean, CEO, UK Agri-Tech Centre, explained the new direction of the centre: “As we step into the next chapter, I think about the UK Agri-Tech Centre role in three different ways. We will be customer focused, commercially minded, and we will connect with real purpose.”

The update will provide critical de-risking for investors by ensuring innovations are market-ready, fit for purpose, and commercially viable. The UK Agri-Tech Centre will deliver this through access to resources that will allow startups to test, validate, and demonstrate their ideas, proof-of-concept, and return on investment in real-world environments.

The centre has brokered strong industry and supply chain connections focused on driving adoption at scale, helping bring the best UK agritech innovations to commercial applications.

McLean commented: “As we enter a new technological era driven by data, automation, robotics, and AI, the agritech sector is poised for growth. The recognition of agritech as a Frontier Sector in the Government’s 10-year Modern Industrial Strategy elevates its importance across the economy, and sets our context and our purpose.

“Our goal is clear: to make the UK one of the world’s most successful environments for agritech innovation, attracting and growing the most capable, impactful ventures.

“We will support the agritech sector in achieving its full potential by accelerating the commercialisation and scaleup of UK agritech ventures, by enabling access to advice, connection and capabilities. Our role in supporting agritech ventures on their growth path will support them in achieving commercial success with viable businesses.”

Helen Brookes, a director at the UK Agri-Trade Centre, commented: “Our focus is really to support UK businesses and ventures, and that’s really making sure that we are enabling real opportunities and real support, to not just develop products, but also to enable businesses to be commercial in their own right, because that’s going to really deliver growth against our government strategy and also align with the industrial strategy.”

The UK Agri-Tech Centre has supported more than 300 UK agritech businesses to date, with a clear plan to provide business support, test, trial, and demonstration capabilities, and wider agritech sector support to address barriers to innovation, investment challenges, and scaling internationally.

One of the businesses that have received support from the UK Agri-Tech Centre is scaleup Antler Bio.

See Also

Why non-technical founders don’t need a technical co-founder

At the reception at the House of Lords, Andrew Lessey, COO, Antler Bio, discussed the support the startup has received from the centre. “The UK Agri-Tech centre, and initially CL before they merged, have been crucial for us. We’ve worked with them pretty much from day one, when we made the pivot to looking at epigenetics in dairy cattle.

“They have been instrumental in helping us formulate what is a commercial product and offering, helping us to understand what the mindset and requirements of UK farmers are, what the industry challenges are, where the areas of focus should be, and then help us shape and give us feedback on a product that we were trying to bring to market and make a commercial success. So they’ve been instrumental, I would say, from day one, in helping put guardrails around us and keeping us on the right track.”

The House of Lords reception is a highlight of the UK Agri-Tech Centre’s Growth Week, designed to help agritech businesses tackle barriers to growth, and showcase the success stories of the businesses supported by the UK Agri-Tech Centre.

With Steve McLean at the helm, former Head of Agriculture & Fisheries at Marks & Spencer, the UK Agri-Tech Centre is prepared to make the UK an agritech powerhouse, with the help of the startups it supports. In the words of Lord Donald Curry: “We can look forward to an exciting, bright future with much greater collaboration, working together across the piece with key organisations to deliver what we need as a sector. And I’m sure the UK Agri-Tech Centre is going to be a crucial motivator and participant in that process.”