How well can we all manage industry change?

IT’S nearly four years since I last got the opportunity to write an article in The Scottish Farmer, I took the time while writing this to look back at what I had to say back then and I can’t help but think about how much things have changed in just a few years.

I spoke back then about how positive I was for the future of the industry and how important I felt livestock was to Scotland. At that point the beef cow herd had reduced by around 10% in the last seven years, the ewe flock was 400,000 less than seven years previous and the dairy herd was 1000 shy of the lowest point in the last 10 years.

Those statistics from the most recent Agricultural Census make pretty grim reading, but in the last year, the beef herd has increased for the first time since 2010, the dairy herd is at its highest point since 2007 and the ewe flock may well have turned the corner too.

I still am positive about our industry and I hope what we are seeing is a resurgence. Brexit will pose plenty of challenges no doubt but at least it will give us some control of our own affairs.

Farming is often described as a ‘way of life’ but in my opinion it can be an outlook that holds the industry back at times. For many people it’s the reality and they are content with it but I think for us to move forward through the challenging times to come I think a more business focused mentality will serve the industry better.

For me, that doesn’t mean the end of the family farm and all of the positive aspects that they can bring, but I think the family farms that move with the times will be the ones that remain. I think many businesses will need to streamline as direct farm subsidies diminish.

My time as part of the SAYFC Agri and Rural Affairs group has been hugely beneficial to me, giving me the chance to visit some of the most progressive farms in the country and learn from some very forward thinking people.

The Cultivating Leaders course was one of the best things I’ve done in Young Farmers, it helped me focus on what was most important during the period I was setting up my business and it didn’t cost me a penny. We learnt about obtaining finance, book-keeping, agricultural law and a lot of personal development.

With the help of our tutors we put together a five-year plan and set about making it a reality. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to obtain a tenancy, establish a suckler cow herd and start fencing as a supplementary income.

Four years ago I talked about the lack of support for new farm businesses and unfortunately not a great deal has changed on that front. Hopefully with Brexit, it will give us the chance to create a fair system that is accessible to everyone.

I’m often classified by people as a ‘new entrant’ but it’s one of my pet hates, as I’ve been involved in the industry all my life, growing up on the family farm and working in the industry when I left college. Despite the fact I’m a new entrant I was ineligible for the Young Farmers Start-Up Grant Scheme and the National Reserve because of my previous farming history, all of a handful of store cattle kept in my own name as a hobby.

It seems a little strange to me that young people who are already involved in the industry and looking to start up a business and make a genuine attempt to build from the bottom up are given the cold shoulder yet those that have less experience are not.

There is clearly a need for new blood in farming and the fact that a young person starting up doesn’t come from a farming background should not mean they don’t get a fair chance, but I can’t help but think the policy makers are forgetting about the huge numbers of farmers sons and daughters under their noses who are given no real encouragement to follow in their family's footsteps and are lost to the industry forever, especially in more remote areas.

They too, need to move with the times and make the likes of share farming and contract farming easier to establish and get similar support to conventional businesses. They are flexible business models that can be great for young farmers with a low cash base to build up their equity at the same time as gaining experience and making a name for themselves, especially when tenanted land is in short supply.

I’m pretty sure the next few years will be pretty turbulent to say the least but a fact of life will still stay the same – people need to eat. There will always be a demand for food, so I’m confident that businesses that can make it through the next few years will have a bright future.

It seems inevitable that the amount of direct farm support will get less and less, and farmers will have to jump through more and more hoops to get what they do so now is the time to go back to the drawing board and plan ahead.

Charles Darwin once said: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change,” and it think it’s pretty relevant.

Cultivating Change is the theme of the SAYFC Agri and Rural Affairs annual conference this November so hopefully we can all bring something home from it to help make our businesses that bit more resilient.