FARMING Minister George Eustice said technological innovation was the key to giving farming a bright future by improving productivity and tackling problems such as pests and disease.

Speaking at the Northern Farming Conference in Hexham, the minister said food and farming was central to the northern economy, employing more than 70,000 people.

To help it grow further, and produce even more, the government was investing some of its £160m Agri-Tech Strategy funding into a range of futuristic "Catalyst" projects across Northern England.

He said: "Although there has been great pressure on farm incomes over the past 12 months, I believe the industry has a good future and technological advances will help British farmers improve their productivity and make the industry more resilient and better placed to deal with pests and diseases.

"Farmers are playing a central role in building a strong economy in the North and I want to support them to grow more and sell more."

He gave examples of some of the work being carried out.

In Sheffield, a group of 40 farmers is trialling a self-driving 'agribot' to help them better manage hilly moorland grazing for sheep and cattle.

The 'agribot' is based on a bomb disposal robot and uses a suite of on-board sensors and cameras, coupled with information from Ordnance Survey maps and satellite images, to identify and remove weeds on tricky terrain.

If successful, the technology, developed with the assistance of a £182,000 Agri-Tech Catalyst grant, could be used on a commercial scale.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, a consortium including the Scotch Whisky Research Institute and United Biscuits, supported by a £200,000 Agri-Tech Catalyst grant, is identifying quality characteristics in soft (gluten-low) wheat in a bid to develop new, higher-quality UK varieties for use in biscuit and whisky-making.

A project in Castleford is looking at taking the venom from spiders and turning it into a pesticide.

In addition to the Catalyst projects run by Innovate UK, a joint venture between Defra and Capita resulted in the launch of Fera Science Ltd – bringing a further £14.5m of new investment and enabling York-based Fera Science to play an even greater role in helping to drive growth in the agri-food industry.

The investment builds upon the £2.7m already committed by the Local Enterprise Partnership to Defra’s National Agri-Food Innovation Campus, where Fera is based.

Mr Eustice said said there had been a "bit of a break through" on GM technology in that Europe had agreed a national derogation for member states who do not want to grow GM crops.

It allowed them to opt out of growing GM crops without their opposition holding things up for everyone else in cases where it could be shown to be scientifically safe.

However, he said the GM debate had become stale and new breeding technology had come forward which was different to GM in that it could accelerate improvement without transferring genes.

Mr Eustice said: "My message today is there is a lot to be encouraged about in this industry, a lot of exciting work looking to improve technology. I think this industry has a bright future and it is a pleasure to be here today."

Answering a question from the audience about the 30 per cent cut in Defra's budget over the next four years, the Minister said they had always been clear that their number one priority was protecting the industry from animal and farm diseases. "We will not compromise on our disease fighting capability," he said.