ARTIS is a national training platform focused on the technical skills needed by farmers, growers, agronomists and the supply chain to improve crop production. We assisted with the critical thinking, development and presentation of the Business Plan for the future operation of the platform.
In March 2016 at the time of this Business Plan review, ARTIS was a training platform under development, partly funded by grant monies from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and from industry contributions. The training platform was a collaboration between G’s Growers, NIAB, East Malling Research and LANTRA. The platform development project was due to end in March 2017.
The purpose of the Business Plan review was to critically assess the proposed operations for the final year of the grant funded platform development project and to ensure that clear objectives and deliverables were set, that would position the platform for sustainable growth following the cessation of the investment funding. The review concluded that the fixed costs of the ARTIS infrastructure needed to be reviewed and restructured, work was needed to refine the product offer, target market and customers, and extend the geographical reach. Other recommendations for business development were made.
Now, over six months after the end of the initial development project, ARTIS is established as a national training platform led by NIAB that provides professional development solutions tailored to the needs of those working in farming and agri-businesses.