James Herrick: Mindset is key for innovation in farming
James Herrick © Tim Scrivener What’s the best way to get a bunch of farmers in one place at a certain time? You’ve guessed it – free food and drink! One business who has this down to a tee is our local vet practice.
It was at one of these meetings, focused on parasitic worms, where one of our vets asked me to explain our grazing system and low worm burden.
I’m always proud of the fact we haven’t had the need to use wormers in years, so I jumped at the opportunity.
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After the meeting, I had multiple farmers come up to me to say how they were impressed with the way we graze cattle, but it would “never work for them”.
So I probed a little further, and it seemed the biggest barrier to change was the usual culprit – mindset.
Now I’d be the first to admit I used to be exactly the same. We did what we did and there was no changing us, so I can sympathise.
You see, mindset is a funny thing. We are all individuals, but we are also a product of our environment.
We are moulded and influenced by the people around us. That’s where the “we’ve always done it like that” attitude that farming is so famous for comes from.
This is often the reason why some of the most forward-thinking and innovative people within agriculture are new to the industry.
They aren’t pushing back against any pre-determined boundaries because to them, they have never been set.
I believe that everyone needs an epiphany moment (or three). It opens up your mind to the endless possibilities, and allows you to ask questions of yourself and your business that you never previously had.
Sometimes they are found in unexpected places – books, farm walks, documentaries or even pubs.
No matter what the trigger, life will never quite be the same after experiencing one, you just have the responsibility to put it into action.
So next time you are about to say “we’ve always done it like that”, just stop and think “What if we did it like this?”