Activity continues to build across the Growing Sussex partnership, with colleges and industry partners taking every opportunity to showcase how digital innovation is enhancing teaching, learning and workforce development across the land-based sector.
Recent highlights have included press coverage of the Agriculture Heat Stress Use Case at Brinsbury College, the launch of new feature films for The Green House Sussex, and exciting developments from project partners Pneumonitor and Boldyn Networks around innovative 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap) technology.
In June, Brinsbury College welcomed farmers and former students to an LKL Services Farm Walk, providing an opportunity to demonstrate how cutting-edge technologies are being embedded into day-to-day farm operations. The event featured presentations from Matt Craig on animal environment monitoring, alongside a showcase from Pneumonitor’s Isaac Orr, who highlighted how emerging technologies are delivering valuable real-time data to support decision-making.
Brinsbury College Farm Manager Ben Penfold emphasised the importance of data-led herd management, describing himself as “obsessed” with data and stating that “data is my best friend”. This data is helping to inform operational decisions, strengthen students’ digital capabilities and contribute to the development of a digitally skilled workforce for the future.
At Plumpton College, a focus has been on inspiring the next generation to pursue careers within the land-based industries. Speaking about the sector’s growing skills requirements, Alex Waterfield highlighted that “industry across the country is crying out for higher skilled workers to move into their sectors to fill the massive skills gaps which currently exist”.
The college’s Open Day, held in May as part of its centenary celebrations, provided an ideal opportunity to showcase the impact of Growing Sussex. Project-funded signage was installed across horticulture learning spaces, helping prospective students and visitors understand how digital innovation is enhancing teaching and practical learning experiences.
Adding to this success, Growing Sussex has recently received national recognition, being named a finalist in the Connected Britain Digital Skills Award. The nomination reflects the ambition of the project and the collaborative efforts of partners across Sussex to develop digital skills, foster innovation and create lasting impact within the region’s land-based sector.
GROWING SUSSEX
Led by West Sussex County Council and funded by DSIT, Growing Sussex is an exciting project to advance digital technology and data-driven decision making in food, wine and plant production.
