Will the new Farming and Food Partnership Board unlock the barriers to investment and growth? 

You need only look back through some of my previous ‘Inside Track’ articles to know how strongly I feel about better collaboration in agriculture and food supply chains.

We all need to eat: How can strengthening collaboration and communication shape our future   

Collaboration and communication are two things which are close to my heart and agriculture and food supply chains – as perhaps many other industries –is littered with missed opportunities.

Cereals at Diddly Squat Farm: A golden opportunity or a balancing act? 

This year’s Cereals event felt like the show was truly back in the fast lane. The weather was great, the layout worked brilliantly, and crucially, there was an audience of farmers and the wider arable supply chain who came because it was genuinely relevant to their businesses.

Does agriculture need to understand more about the consumer? 

I want to talk about how agriculture as an industry needs to understand more about the consumer. This was a popular topic of conversation at the recent Oxford Farming Conference. While the usual clarion call is that the consumer needs to understand more about food and where it comes from, I think it’s incumbent upon us within the farming industry to understand consumer motivations and preferences for food.  

IHT in agriculture: Why we need to find the middle ground

I want to share my reflections on the IHT issue in agriculture and why, for me, it is about the reputational management of the whole of the agricultural sector.

The complexity of getting branding right  

I was talking to somebody the other day who just happened to mention that they keep Stabiliser cattle. These cattle were bred in the 1990’s to create the ultimate suckler cow.

Wealth and Wellbeing: Why the UK Must Welcome Trade with Open Arms 

In the UK, we have these opportunities, and whilst they’ve become greater since we left the EU, it feels we are out of practice at identifying and working together to deliver trade.

The Time is Now: Why It’s the Perfect Moment to Get Behind Regenerative Agriculture  

Early last month, I went to an AHDB farm walk up at Boddington Estates, one of AHDB’s Monitor Farms. There were around 25-30 of us, local farmers who were all really engaged, with farmers sharing performance information and best practice as a way of improving their own businesses.

Towards a policy framework for a more sustainable food system  

A strong framework will ensure delivery on the broader outcomes whilst reigning in the more unsavoury elements of an unfettered free market. 
 

Farmers’ ‘thirst for knowledge’ on achieving robust and profitable businesses 

I’m going to be talking about the growing thirst for knowledge among farmers around the decisions they need to take on farm to ensure their resilience and profitability.