3 take-home messages from the 2023 AHDB AgriLeader Forum

The annual AHDB AgriLeader Forum returned on 7-8 February, inviting farmers from all over the country to Stratford-upon-Avon to have their way of thinking, and leading, challenged. Here are some of the forum’s highlights.

Data is the new soil

International speaker and digital marketing specialist Dan Sodergren is a self-professed futurist.

Taking to the stage, Mr Sodergren said he believes that “we are at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution,” and that farmers must do more to embrace new technology to future-proof their businesses.

He said: “If you are going to revolutionise what you do, you’ll be doing it through things you might not be using right now; this might be sensors, or even 3D printers.

“It will definitely be mobile, and involve a cloud. With the right technology, and the right people, you can take over the world, and without that, the world will take over you.

“My biggest worry is that it will be non-farming people that will do this. Someone else will come along and eat your lunch.”

Giving perspective on the rapid pace of technological changes, Mr Sondegren said: “Ninety per cent of the world’s data was created in the past two years.”

Polling the audience, farmers were asked to summarise their feelings towards emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, to which responses varied from “dangerous”, “scary”, and “worrying”, to “revolutionary”, “intriguing” and “exciting”.  

Find a mentor

Maintaining a business’s direction in an increasingly tumultuous landscape is one of the greatest challenges facing farmers.

Elizabeth Buchanan, a non-executive board member of Defra, special adviser to Waitrose, and former private secretary to the King, believes that the single most important way for farmers, and their businesses, to stay on track is to find a mentor.  

“Farming is the single most important endeavour,” she said. “We feed the nation, we care for the land, environment and animals, and maintain the health of the nation.

“But, there is strength in numbers – we need to work together so much more.

“Find a mentor – have someone to stand by your side and see you through the rocky times and give you good advice,” Ms Buchanan said.

Running an organic beef farm, Ms Buchanan is transitioning to regenerative agriculture – a process which has come with its challenges.  

“I really strongly say that mentors are terrific – because you will have bad days, and will need someone to talk to.

“Get good people around you to help you – they don’t have to be expensive – they need to be a good friend or someone you can rely on to give you good advice.”  

Cultivate your social media environment

Self-belief is the bread and butter of a business’s success, said the forum’s panel.

But, in an era of increasing social media and political noise, is this having an advantageous or detrimental effect on feelings of self-belief, particularly when it comes to running an agricultural business?

Matt Phelan, co-founder of The Happiness Index, and a former beef farmer, believes that social media is having a negative affect – but that this is easily reversed.

He said: “We see this every day in our data, so we know it does impact people.”

Crucially, the influence of social media does not have to be negative, and, self-awareness of the matter can help with cultivating a more healthy online world. 

“My dad got an iPad a few years ago so that he could watch cattle auctions,” Mr Phelan said, “He doesn’t know how to use Twitter, but the app is pre-loaded. I curate who he follows – and he doesn’t know that I do this.

“The point is, if we are aware that this stuff impacts us – and it does, because we see it in our data – you can create your own world – you can consciously curate what is being fed in.”