Cultural trends sure to give farmers food for thought

This year got off to a great start for me when I was lucky enough to join eight other Scottish young farmers in making the journey down to the 2018 Oxford Farming Conference. Defra Secretary Michael Gove’s “embracing change” speech was much lauded but was a little light on how he sees the Scottish industry changing over the Brexit period.

What stuck out for me were those speakers who referenced the changing cultural trends that are most likely to change the future of agriculture long after we’ve left the EU.

Two sections of society were highlighted as being the biggest influencers of world agriculture in the very near future: millennials and vegans.

It’s probably worth noting that an increasing number of people who fall into the first category also fall into the second.

Farmers must make a conscious effort to communicate with these groups of people and try to understand more about their concerns and needs, in particular, those of us operating in the animal product part of the industry.

In 2006, 150,000 people in the UK opted for a plant-based diet. Today 542,000 do.

That’s a 350% increase, and close to half of all vegans are millennials.

Veganuary is the concept where non-vegans opt for the diet for the whole of January and I was concerned to find that 40% of all those who start veganuary continue it after the month is over.

As an industry, we know fine well that many of the facts and figures the militant factions of the vegan movement use for their propaganda are often completely without merit and false, however they are having the desired effect of convincing millennials that animal-based products are unsafe and inhumane.

So, whilst we can’t stop them from posting on social media, we can attempt to counteract the negativity by educating young people about how food from the UK is amongst the safest, most humanely-produced food on the planet.

In the long run in order to meet the demands of the future generation, farmers will need to completely change their production methods and the way they sell their food in order to survive.

In 2006, 150,000 people in the UK opted for a plantbased diet. Today 542,000 do so.

Defra Secretary Michael Gove during his address to the Oxford Farming Conference.