Right skill set vital as farms face changes
A FAILURE to delay reacting to changes in the industry will just increase the pressure on British farming businesses.
Speaking at the Institute of Agricultural Management (IAgrM) National Farm Management Conference in London, Nicholas Saphir said that businesses who are prepared for and embrace change will be able to exploit the opportunities that always come with periods of evolution in the industry.
But the chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) stressed that the industry “needs to get on the front foot”. He continued: “There will be opportunities to grow new crops, to grow crops differently or to grow crops for new uses such as nutraceuticals. For livestock farmers, increases in quality and provenance and innovation will offer potential.
“However, only around a third of farmers appreciate the extent of change that is coming and are preparing for it. The challenge now is to increase this proportion and get businesses thinking their way to success.”
Central to the development of a farm business capable of competing efficiently in the new post-subsidy and post-Brexit world will be developing the necessary skills.
David Fursdon, chairman of Dyson Farming & TIAH, warned the 230-plus delegates that labour availability is and will remain a big issue. “To do well, you will need to look after your staff and equip them for the new ways of doing things. This will involve looking at areas such as wages and accommodation but also at how they are trained and what they are trained in,” he added.
“People working on farms are already mechanics, soil scientists, accountants, agronomists and livestock husbandry specialists. However new technologies that will pave the way to greater efficiency will mean farm businesses will require data analysts, specialist skills in drone operation, robotics, GPS systems and aerial analysis, to name a few.”
He said the optimum mix of skills will allow the effective adoption of precision farming techniques to help drive financial and environmental sustainability. Achieving this will require a combination of more structured training and development aligned with a willingness to recruit from across other industries.
Lisa Williams, business development director of Agri-Epi Centre, argued that technology won’t solve problems in isolation but can help be part of the overall solution. “Technologies have to be relevant to the farm, driving change and demonstrating clear value and impact,” she said.
James Townsend, chairman of Velcourt, concluded: “Farms in the future will require more management rather than less but management will have to have a broader range of skills and expertise than it does today.”