Farm businesses must harness data, respond to changing markets and sharpen management skills to remain profitable during a period of rapid change.
That will be the central business message at the National Farm Management Conference in London on 5 November, where farmers and advisers will examine how better management can turn information into profit.
The Society of Agriculture event comes as farm businesses face pressure from environmental requirements, labour challenges and volatile markets – as well as policy uncertainty and upheaval.
The day will also explore new markets, workforce pressures and changing consumer demand. The conference theme – Lead. Connect. Grow – will focus on practical ways businesses can respond rather than simply absorb those pressures.
Better decisions
Business performance will take centre stage during the John Alliston Memorial Session. Speakers will examine how farms can differentiate themselves, develop demand-led growth and use business data more effectively.
The session will also pose a deliberately simple but provocative question: are today’s growers and livestock producers best described as farmers or business managers?
It is a distinction with growing significance. Technical farming ability remains essential, but tighter margins mean managers increasingly need to understand costs, markets and business performance alongside production.
Dan Morris of Warrendale Wagyu, Mark Hall of Waldersey Farms and James Smith of Loddington Farm will each share their perspectives on managing and developing agricultural businesses.
Market shifts
Changing demand will provide another focus. A session chaired by Farmers Weekly editor Andrew Meredith will examine how businesses can respond to evolving markets and expectations.
The discussion will include the opportunity presented by the Halal market. It will also consider how employers can build a culture that embraces change, communicate that change and manage the modern agricultural workforce.
These are increasingly commercial questions. Finding customers is only part of growth. Businesses must also have the people and management structures to supply them efficiently.
Wider pressures
Environmental stewardship and water management will complete the programme, reflecting pressures that increasingly influence costs, investment and long-term planning.
Mark Suthern of the Environment Agency, Sophie Throup, director general of the NFU, and Chris Gerrard of Anglian Water will discuss those challenges in a session chaired by Society of Agriculture chair Simon Britton.
The conference will be held at One Great George Street, Westminster. Tickets cost £150 including VAT for Society members and £288 for non-members. For details, visit www.soc-ag.org