Industry Spotlight: Agriculture
Challenges in agriculture in 2023 and 2024 continue to reflect major trends we have observed in the industry over the last several years, with arable farms continuing to focus on sustainable practices, especially the massive challenge of how to minimise losses to pests and disease while also reducing the use of chemical treatments. Many of our most innovative farmers are experimenting with mixed-crop agriculture, either using different varieties of the same grain crop, or co-cropping to increase barriers to disease spread. These approaches often see the most success when used with oil seed rape crops, but developing new methods for grains and legumes is also ongoing.
On the livestock side, sustainability is also a major theme, either in the increased use of manure as inputs for compost, biofuel or anaerobic digestion processes. As ever when working with a natural product, uncertainty often lies in how to develop an optimal input blend while relying on the absolute minimum use of additives. Beyond this, more conventional experiments with different feed and supplement blends to maximise animal health and weight gain.
Industry Spotlight: Motor Racing
As we enter October and the final race of the British Touring Car Championship, we close another year of intense R&D for racing teams across the sport. Further tweaks to the governing ruleset mean that teams and drivers have had to continue to get to grips with the hybrid power system.
On top of this, the move to three-part qualifying impacts the wear on critical components such as tyres and brakes, meaning that development and testing has been needed throughout the year as teams strive for a competitive edge.
These development themes are likely to continue into the 2024/25 race season as the use of the hybrid boost system is further tweaked and the sport continues to expand is sustainability initiatives.
Stonebank Consulting has a proven track record in assisting teams across the motorsport industry. To explore your opportunities to offset development costs as part of an R&D claim, email us at info@stonebankconsulting.co.uk for a free consultation.