Pymoor firm CN Seeds is set to grow overseas thanks to a second grant from the Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.
The firm has been awarded £60,000 from the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which runs the growth initiative. The latest grant comes two years after the firm received almost £40,000 to pilot a new variety of vegetable.
CN Seeds is a specialist grower of herb and baby-leaf seeds, supplying seeds to the horticultural industry worldwide.
Having identified the need to produce plants that are tolerant to diseases, CN Seeds will build a state-of-the-art testing facility to grow the business and boost its sales and exporting potential.
The new facility will link CN Seeds’ previous grant which allowed them to develop new varieties of rocket. They can now develop this work further by not only testing for native diseases, but also for strains of overseas diseases on site. Allowing CN Seeds to compete in a globally competitive market.
Mark Hodgkinson, from CN Seeds Ltd, said: “We are very thankful to the Eastern Agri-tech board for offering their support to our business for a second time. With tighter restrictions being enforced on pesticide application, as a means of combating disease within the baby leaf sector, there is now greater global market demand for breeders to develop plants with inherent disease tolerance. The new disease screening facility will put CN Seeds at the forefront of this race and enable the business to increase its market share globally.”
Mark Reeve, Chairman of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative Programme Board, said:
“International trade is vital for the growth of our local economy. By providing grant funding to further CN Seeds research into overseas plant diseases we are supporting their overseas trade and further strengthening the Agri-Tech sector in our local area.
“As one of the UK’s leading suppliers of herb and baby-leaf seeds, CN Seeds has great potential to grow further and I look forward to seeing the results of their research and development work translate into new business in the future.”
The Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative is run by the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP) with support from New Anglia LEP, Norfolk County Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, and the local authorities covering this area.
Grants are available to organisations looking to invest in specialist equipment, new market and supply chain development, ways to improve productivity and efficiency, and the application and commercialisation of Research and Development.
To find out how the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative could help to grow your business, visit www.agritechgrants.co.uk or call the LEP on 01480 277180.
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