It’s the future, stupid..

Whilst its very comforting to sit cocooned from the outside world in farming and worry about spare parts, delivery lead times and interest rates, some big things are happening.

Being the wayward son of a Methodist lay preacher and upland farmer means that change has always come slower than I would have liked, although it’s a comfort to know that some things remain the same (see my chapel comment above).

Climate change however is on us, this week’s picture is of some soil at home, which slid out of the gate and down the pasture next door from a freshly reseeded arable silage field. As the experts say, “expect the same rainfall, but in more intense bursts”. Quite.

The point yours truly is making is that as manufacturers, suppliers and distributors we would do well to pay attention to the signs around us. On the one hand some forward looking ‘farming’ isn’t quite doing as well as predicted such as vertical farming see: https://foodinstitute.com/focus/what-does-aerofarms-bankruptcy-signal-for-ceas-future/?trk=feed-detail_main-feed-card_reshare_feed-article-content .

The meat free meat business seems to have peaked, with the Grocer reckoning that meat free ranges are 10% down across the board in retail https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/plant-based/meat-free-growth-tailing-off-as-retailers-shrink-ranges/677580.article .

Despite the government’s desire for us to scavenge for nuts and berries or buy organic free range venison from Waitrose (subject to availability), the reality is that society will need farming for some time to come.

Elsewhere there are indicators from aligned sectors to the ag machinery supply chain, (in this case construction) that new technologies are being specified and used, for instance this scheme aims to banish 66 million litres of diesel consumption, in the main with hydrogen. Perhaps JCB are onto something. Read on and see https://buildindigital.com/national-highways-to-use-hydrogen-powered-construction-machinery-on-thames-project/

That’s my lot this week, and we still haven’t talked about agritech’s success (or otherwise)..