A few key themes coming through in conversations so far, some of which which will sound pretty familiar:
• 🤨Too much agtech, not enough time: Farmers and agronomists are overwhelmed with options and often kick new tech into the long grass rather than adopting it. The tools that are succeeding make things simpler, not more complicated.
• 📋ESG reporting is a major driver: supply chain is pushing for lots more reporting, particularly needed given so much is grown for export.
• 🤝Grower groups play a big role here. More formalised and established than UK clusters, and much more linked into the research and funding ecosystem. Some (👀Pip Grant) also playing a role as agtech scouts for their growers.
• 💻Interesting platforms that are actually delivering value for farmers, as proven by how they’ve scaled. DataFarming (Australia) is doing great things with NDVI, and Agronomeye the same with LiDAR - lots of potential crossovers for Soil Benchmark.
As always happens with Nuffield, my focus has broadened. I started off looking at what kinds of groups/systems facilitate knowledge sharing among farms already on the journey to improve their soil health. But I’ve become fascinated by what actually flicks the switch where a farmer decides to change their system?
🤔💡A long chat with Terry McCosker yesterday was fascinating on this (🙏 Ian Gould for the suggestion). Those moments of change aren’t necessarily about soil health itself, but about farmers wanting to farm differently—better soil health is often just one of the outcomes of that shift. RCS Australia and their Grazing for Profit program have had a huge impact here, working with 14,000 farms. The feedback, from Terry and plenty of others here, suggests that as a method, it works. Something well worth bringing to the UK - watch this space.
🙌A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to talk me through their work and share their perspectives. Terry, Cameron Leckie, Renée Anderson, Edward Scott, Tim Neale, Dani Darke and many others. It’s been great to dig into the differences and similarities between Australian and UK ag.
For anyone new to my Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust topic, I’m researching how knowledge-sharing systems shape soil management on farm. Looking at what works in different countries, from levy-funded models to private benchmarking groups. Australia has some great examples of both, so I’m looking forward to learning more over the next few weeks.
✈️Next stop: Perth for the Grains Research and Development Corporation update, catching up with Ashley, Shannen, and Lauren. If you’re at EvokeAg or in WA next week, would be great to connect - drop me a message!
📸Pics: as a small thank-you to those hosting me, I’ve come prepared with a hashtag#Yorkshire staple🫖. Didn’t expect to find another Yorkshire export in Brisbane Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) 🍻
