Set up new premises for agriculture and aquaculture
Find premises and decide on the best location to expand your agriculture, agritech or aquaculture business in the UK.
Agriculture, argritech and aquaculture clusters
Agriculture and agritech
Norfolk and Suffolk, East England
Norfolk’s Norwich Research Park houses a world-class bioscience cluster. Plant genetics companies can collaborate with the science base at the park, including the John Innes Centre, a leader in sustainable agriculture and crop optimisation for specific nutrients.
Norfolk and Suffolk hosts 1,000 food and beverage manufacturing businesses, employing over 35,000 people.
Greater Lincolnshire, East Midlands of England
Greater Lincolnshire is at the heart of the UK food chain, and the UK’s largest concentration of food processing and logistics employers. A growing digitisation and automation capability is pioneering new technology, leading to a variety of projects, startups, technology companies and advisory services. The area specialises in fresh produce production, poultry and meat processing and plant proteins.
Shropshire, West Midlands of England
The West Midlands provides a gateway opportunity for the design, build, testing and operation of on-farm technologies. It has 10% of England’s farmland area and a high agricultural gross value-added. Telford in Shropshire is a centre of excellence for agritech based precision farming.
Farmers supply to around 350 food and 120 beverage manufacturing firms in the area.
Agriculture across the UK regions
You can find more information on agriculture by region and key statistics on the UK agriculture industry on GOV.UK.
Aquaculture
Wales
Wales has well-established expertise in aquaculture technology.
Recirculated aquaculture systems technology companies are already supplying to some of the largest salmon and cleaner fish companies in the UK. North Wales companies are working within technology development, fishery management, feed development and culture technology for new high-value species.
South West England
South West England has a diverse aquaculture base, with trout production, recreational fisheries, and some coarse fish production. There is significant shellfish production activity including oysters, mussels and scallops. The South West account for over 9% of UK industry establishments, with operators specialising in trout and salmon farming.
Opportunities exist for investors to take advantage of the strong existing marine and engineering expertise in the area.
Scotland
Scottish-farmed salmon is Scotland’s top food export, with its industry expertise ensuring Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) - a mark of exceptional quality.
Rainbow trout, brown trout and halibut are also produced, as well as shellfish such as mussels, oysters and scallops. A few seaweed cultivation sites have been established. New shellfish species such as abalone, sea urchins and clams also offer considerable growth potential.
Incubators and accelerators
Incubators
Incubators are business growth programmes that provide physical space for startups, with shared facilities and business support services. They’re often based in science parks.
There are around 400 incubator programmes currently operating in the UK. Most incubators will charge your company fees or rent, but this is often subsidised by a university or public funding.
Based in locations across the country, the UK Agri-Tech Centre offers a complete life cycle of support. It drives agritech innovation and adoption through world-class facilities, expert knowledge and business support.
It takes a strong, cross-sectoral approach to drive better outcomes for the agritech sector across innovation, commercialisation, and adoption, as well as research.
A leading incubator and innovation space focused on the future of farming and food systems. Based at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester in South West England, Farm491 works with entrepreneurs through all their stages of growth, leveraging its unique network of academic, industry and farming contacts and in house experts to help companies grow.
Based in Gloucestershire, South West England, this is an independent service for farmers and agri-businesses, providing training, guidance and support for evidence-based practices.
Based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire in South East England, the site offers lab, office and meeting space to enable innovation and collaboration in agritech.
Business premises near Edinburgh for companies researching in animal and veterinary sciences and agritech, with flexible office and laboratory space.
View a directory of accelerators and incubators in the UK on the website of the Centre for Entrepreneurs (requires free registration).
Accelerators
Accelerators will typically offer your company services through an intensive programme of 3 to 12 months. There are currently around 300 programmes operating in the UK.
Accelerators tend to be more growth-driven than incubators, as they often offer direct funding in return for equity (typically less than 10%). They’re more appropriate if you’re a startup looking to scale rapidly.
Find office space
In addition to the incubators and accelerators above, the UK has a competitive market of specialised serviced office companies, professional services companies and virtual office providers, all ensuring costs are kept low for clients.
Virtual offices allow companies to meet any legal obligation to have a registered address in the UK, without paying for a physical office.
You can compare prices for office or other space on commercial property search engines, such as EG Radius, and the websites of office advisory services like Instant Offices or Flexi Offices.
Support from local business programmes
The nations and regions of the UK have a network of private-public partnership bodies that look after local economic development. These bodies may be able to support you with finding office space.
England
Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hubs support businesses across England. Find links on the Growth Hub network listing.
UK nations
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland manage their own programmes for business support, funding and finance in their areas.
More information on the programmes’ websites:
Regulations and guidance
The UK agriculture, agritech and aquaculture industries are well regulated.
Agriculture
You can find a comprehensive list of regulations for UK agriculture on the GOV.UK page on rules for farmers and land managers.
Find rules on health and safety for UK agriculture on the website of the UK Health and Safety Executive.
Aquaculture
The Seafish website has more information on: