“Our role as scientists is to provide the evidence that reduces risk and increases confidence, while recognising that real‑world decisions must be made long before perfect knowledge is available.” Prof Cristobal Uauy, Director, John Innes Centre
This tension sits at the heart of agri‑tech. Different people in the ecosystem – farmers, researchers, investors, funders – all make decisions under uncertainty, but the level of evidence they need varies dramatically. And that raises the question we’re exploring at this year’s REAP conference: how good is “good enough”?
We all know the so-called “80-20” rule, where 80% of outcomes are said to be influenced by 20% of inputs, and at this year’s REAP conference, we’re exploring how this applies in agriculture and technology adoption.