It was announced last week that AB Agri Ltd, the agricultural division of Associated British Foods (ABF) group which operates in the retail, food and agriculture sectors, is to establish a Technology Centre in Kilkenny, creating up to 50 new roles over five years.
AB Agri say this new Technology Centre will develop new generations of technology solutions that improve farm performance and drive continuous improvement across agricultural supply chains. The majority of the new roles will be in software development, software engineering and data science with other roles in HR, business administration and finance.
AB Agri was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Peterborough, UK. The company employs over 3,500 people around the world and is a international agricultural business operating across the agri-food industry. It produces and markets animal feed, nutrition and technology-based products and services in 65 countries to over 5 million customers.
Welcoming the news last week, Ireland’s EU Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan said, "Technology and data-driven innovation will be central to improving the efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability of our agri-food systems in the coming years. The establishment of this important Agricultural Technology Centre in Kilkenny will help Ireland to remain at the cutting edge of producing more, while using less."
Source: www.businessworld.ie