A Changing Landscape

Agriculture is constantly evolving, but the changes that will occur in the coming years as a result of a radical shift in agricultural support policy from production to environment will be as dramatic as anything we have seen for half a century.

The decoupling of subsidies from production has ended a support strategy that began in the aftermath of World War Two, and this – together with the emergence of true global markets – will ultimately bring land, as opposed to agricultural production, into surplus.

The farmer of the future will be a very different animal. There is no doubt that some farms will go out of business because they will be uneconomic without subsidies or reticent to change, but others will thrive as entrepreneurs see nothing but opportunity in the changing landscape of UK farming.

In terms of the food market, farms will polarise. Some – predominantly the larger units with economies of scale – will become even more efficient producers of commodity products. Others will identify niche food production opportunities where they can add value to their output and wrest back margin from processors and retailers. Then there will be a growing group of hobby farmers and enterprises that see opportunity in non-food production, either through renewable energy and pharmaceutical crops or diversifying into leisure or other land-based activity.

For agribusinesses and organisations marketing products, knowledge and services – either directly or through merchants/distributors – to UK farmers, an ability to segment the market and identify the most attractive, profitable clusters of potential customers will be crucial to success. As will identifying, keeping open and successfully exploiting the most effective communication routes to each of these segments.

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