Farmageddon is what fans of American football teams Iowa State Cyclones and Kansas State Wildcats call the clash when they meet. Both Iowa and Kansas are US agricultural heartlands and their universities have strong track records in agricultural and food science.
Yesterday, August 23, the two teams faced off in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. About 20,000 people travelled from the US for the game, with many of them working in agriculture, food and related industries.
Enterprise Ireland was a sponsor of the game, and in the days running up to it, we hosted the first One Health x AgTech Summit in Kildare and Dublin.
This was an extensive programme of events for Irish agtech and animal health companies to meet and share knowledge with visiting academics and potential industry partners from Iowa and Kansas.
Both these US states offer significant untapped opportunity for agtech
Ireland is internationally recognised as one of the most efficient, profitable and trusted agricultural economies. We export advanced solutions to over 140 countries and generate over €1bn in global sales annually.
Despite being agricultural powerhouses, Iowa and Kansas have not traditionally been strong markets for Irish exporters, but the summit was the ideal opportunity to ignite change and showcase the Irish agricultural ecosystem.
Both those US states offer significant untapped opportunity for Irish businesses in this sector.
?There were 19 Enterprise Ireland client companies from across the agtech and animal health sector at the summit. The US industry delegation included senior executives from leading agtech, food and animal health corporations and top-level representatives of major organisations.
Both the American universities sent senior leaders, professors and corporate engagement experts to Dublin to meet Irish companies and academics.
UCD collaborated with Enterprise Ireland for the summit and many of its senior managers and academics also attended. It announced a memorandum of agreement with both US universities while welcoming all delegations to a day-long visit to the UCD AgTech Innovation Centre last Thursday.
Sarah Guy of Aer Lingus with Willie the Wildcat from Kansas and Cy the Cardinal of Iowa. Photo: Naoise Culhane
During the day, delegates toured the centre and heard from experts at panel discussions where topics ranged from transatlantic partnerships in agtech and the One Health approach; managing a global response to antimicrobial resistance; how technology enables sustainable agriculture; and more.
On Friday, the delegations visited Nova Innovation Centre in UCD, where they heard more about industry partnerships, food innovation and entrepreneurship.
In a sign of the importance of the summit, attendees were addressed by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke, as well by the governors of Kansas and Iowa, Laura Kelly and Kim Reynolds. The governors highlighted how they were keen to see more foreign direct investment in their states.
To find out more about potential opportunities in the US for agtech, food and animal health companies, get in touch with maebh.mccarthy@enterprise-ireland.com at Enterprise Ireland.
?Claire Walsh is senior VP of Enterprise Ireland in the US
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