The next generation of farmers have expressed their feelings about the future of their industry during a thought-provoking discussion at the Norfolk Farming Conference.
The event at the Norfolk Showgrounds heard from five young professionals associated with the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association's (RNAA) Norfolk Voices for Norfolk's Future initiative.
They include David Long, manager of Bernard Matthews' poultry farm, George West, whose family runs a mixed farming and livestock farm near Diss, and Felix Field, who aims to incorporate sustainable and regenerative farming practices into his sixth-generation family farming business in south-west Norfolk, with ' Maintaining focus on food production.
There were also two panelists who entered the industry without an agricultural background – Conor Tindall Reid, assistant farm manager at Holkham Estate, and Hannah Carthy, field trial technician at the Norwich-based British Beet Research Organization (BBRO).
Norfolk scientists on stage at the Norfolk Agriculture Conference. From left, Felix Field of Feltwell; George West of Dis. David Long of East Tuddenham; Hannah Carthy of Norwich; and Connor Tindall Reid from Holkham (Photo: Dennis Bradley)
The meeting identified significant challenges facing the sector, including climate change, competitive pressures, environmental goals and changing consumer habits.
The panel were asked what one issue they would ask the government to consider for their future.
Conor Tindall Reid echoed a recurring sentiment at the conference – the need to “keep food security at the center of policy”.
“I put nature on a similar pedestal, which is very important, but I think we forget why we farm sometimes,” he said. “Regenerative agriculture is building nature alongside agriculture – it has its challenges, a lot of challenges, but it still needs to produce food.
Participants agreed that improving public communication about food, nature and diet was crucial, and researcher Hannah Carthy said her top priority for the government was education.
“I think more agricultural topics should be included in school curricula,” she said. “I really can't believe it's still considered extracurricular.
“In geography we learn about volcanoes and the kind of things that don't really interest us day in and day out, but most school children don't know whether they're looking at a beet crop or a potato crop, so I feel like there could be more to that that would lead them to career options.” more concentrating.”
George West, who has already converted barns into holiday accommodation on his family farm and is looking to open a farm shop, said farmers needed a more supportive planning system to help them diversify.
“Farmers are being pushed to diversify and diversify and diversify in order to survive in this current market, but getting to the planning stage is very painful,” he said.
“I've spent the last four years trying to move the farm shop forward, and this could put the farm on the brink of bankruptcy if we're not careful. The amount of money and time you have to put in to wait three months to be able to do that.” In response, it needs to reform the entire system to allow us to diversify.”
In addition to the need to balance food production with environmental responsibilities, the panel also discussed how new technologies and data analysis can improve farm sustainability, and why discussions of diet and health matter to agriculture – both major themes of the conference.
When asked to describe their generation in one word, the Norfolk Scientists answered with the adjectives “resourceful, open-minded, innovative and revolutionary”.
