The UK Agri-Tech Centre Was Built to Grow British Farming Innovation. Now It Wants to Cut 80 of Its Own Jobs.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
In short. The UK Agri-Tech Centre, the national body formed in April 2024 by merging three government-backed agri-tech organisations, is consulting on cutting its own workforce from around 130 people to about 50, up to 80 roles [1]. The ledger logs a loss of 80, graded ANNOUNCED, region uk-wide, ai_cited: no. The centre says the cuts do not signal a withdrawal of government backing; farmers who rely on it are not convinced.
The proposal. The UK Agri-Tech Centre is consulting staff on a restructuring that would shrink its workforce from around 130 people to about 50, putting up to 80 roles at risk, under what chief executive Steve McLean calls a "new strategy from 2027" developed with Innovate UK [1]. Staff are being consulted on redeployment, alternative proposals and ways of avoiding or reducing the redundancies. McLean frames the new direction as "focusing the UK Agri-Tech Centre where we believe it can make the greatest difference: accelerating the adoption of agri-tech by connecting farmers, growers and food businesses with the right technologies, expertise, evidence, facilities, funding and opportunities, and working more through and with partners across the UK" [1]. A government spokesperson is reported confirming that overall national investment in agri-tech remains on track to reach at least GBP 290m by 2030, and that the restructuring is not a withdrawal of support [1].
The irony the story carries. The centre exists because of a merger, not despite one. In April 2024, three separate government-backed bodies, the Agricultural Engineering, Precision and Innovation Centre, Crop Health and Protection, and the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock, combined into a single national organisation funded by Innovate UK, built to be the sector's biggest agri-tech champion [2]. Two years later, that same body is proposing to cut almost 60% of its own headcount. Farmers who work with the centre are not reassured by the funding-stays-on-track framing: one, unnamed in the trade press coverage, called the move "an absolute tragedy," warning "we are just destroying the UK's ability to do agri-tech innovation" [1].
How the ledger logs it
A loss of 80, graded ANNOUNCED, region uk-wide, dated to today. This is a proposal at consultation stage, reported by trade press from the centre's own briefing to staff, not a filing or a concluded redundancy figure; nothing here has reached REPORTED grade yet, and the final number could move in either direction once consultation closes. The centre is registered at the Innovation Centre, York Science Park, but describes its own work as running through partners "across the UK," and its three predecessor organisations spanned sites well beyond Yorkshire, so the row is logged uk-wide rather than pinned to one region. No AI or automation attribution appears anywhere in the coverage found; ai_cited is logged as no. The single source found, Farmers Weekly, is trade press with a named byline and an on-record chief executive quote; no second outlet had covered the story as this piece went to press.
What happens next in this ledger
The consultation runs into the coming months, with a concluded headcount to follow once it closes. This row gets updated, not silently overwritten, if that final figure differs from the 80 logged today. Worth watching alongside it: whether the "three-year funding agreement" McLean references actually protects the centre's core mission once roughly half its current staff are gone.
Sources
- Farmers Weekly, Philip Case, "Up to 80 jobs at risk at UK Agri-Tech Centre," 18 September 2026. https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/up-to-80-jobs-at-risk-at-uk-agri-tech-centre
- UK Research and Innovation, "UK Agri-Tech Centre launches in April," 15 April 2024. https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-agri-tech-centre-launches-in-april/