Industry told to look past politics to the long-term
UK agriculture needs to look beyond the shortterm political upheavals and start to address the long-term challenges which face the sector – that was the over-arching message given by farm business consultants, Andersons in the preface to their annual Outlook report for 2020.
The organisation said that one of the foremost issues was the need to farm profitably with a lower level of financial support:
“Whatever form Brexit finally takes, the trajectory of funding looks set to be downwards and farmers will be expected ‘to do’ more to receive any support, thus decreasing the profit from the annual subsidy cheque,” said director Richard King who heads up the company’s business research team.
King said that if it wasn’t for Brexit the main agenda item for farming – and more than likely for the whole economy – would be the environment:
“Agriculture has been grappling with the local environment in terms of biodiversity and pollution for many years and will continue to do so. But now a more global factor is in play, with the rising issue of climate change.
“If the industry really is to reach its goal of ‘net zero’ then there will have to be radical changes in many current farm practices.”
And he said that a similar seismic change was needed in the approach to productivity, with the industry taking a swift move away from the ‘way things have always been done’ approach:
“Whilst there are pockets of excellence in UK agriculture, the statistics indicate that we have been slipping down the league table in recent years.
“Technology can play a part in addressing this issue, but the need for good people within the sector is equally, if not more, important.”
King said that this meant that making the industry an attractive career prospect was therefore key to attracting people of the right calibre – and to let the wider population know about the opportunities which would be key for the future of UK farming.
“While these themes – and many more addressed in this year’s Outlook, will not be solved overnight -– or by individuals working on their own – collaboration will play an increasingly important role for the industry’s economic health.”
And he said this was another area in which UK farming needed to improve its track record , with collaboration and cooperation becoming increasingly crucial, not only ‘horizontally’ between farms and farmers but also between different links in the supply chain.