Roots to Resilience – Challenging farmer thinking for long-term business success

What makes this programme different?

Roots to Resilience is a fresh, new initiative that applies systems-based thinking – an approach to understand, improve and implement agricultural systems by considering their complexities and how they are interconnected. This approach recognises that agriculture is not just about individual enterprises, crops or livestock but involves a multitude of factors and relationships that influence each other and the entire system.

What’s the goal?

Roots to Resilience aims to empower farmers to take time away from their businesses to challenge their thinking and identify what they want to achieve and how they can apply change.

The three key principles of the programme are:

• Ownership – be accountable for decisions made and respond in new ways
• Clarity – be clear about what you want to achieve and why
• Community – build your support network and champion others

The programme comes as a response to the evolving challenges and opportunities within the industry and reflects our commitment to supporting the agricultural community.

Our levy payers are at the heart of everything we do at AHDB. We understand that every farmer and every farm is different and that one-size-fits-all approaches are outdated and rarely successful.

How will the programme run?

Roots to Resilience will champion collaboration between farmers, industry experts and stakeholders to drive positive change.

The programme will facilitate knowledge exchange among farmers, allowing them to share their experiences, insights and on-farm practices. This farmer-to-farmer learning approach will foster a supportive community and promote the adoption of systems-based thinking. It will provide farmers with the tools, skills and resources to optimise their farming systems and enhance the resilience within their business.

It can be difficult for farmers to plan for the future and invest in themselves when their time and headspace is filled with daily tasks and problem-solving. Roots to Resilience is about shining a light on the people within farming businesses, challenging their thinking and helping them understand their long-term goals in order to adapt and succeed.

Roots to Resilience workshops

The programme kicks off with a three-day workshop for up to 50 farmers, running from 13 to 15 December 2023 in Sutton Coldfield.

The workshop will give delegates the opportunity to take time away from their farms to identify their goals for the coming years. It will then take a deep dive into their businesses and is designed to equip attendees with the knowledge, skills and tools to create a long-term business plan. It will include identifying worry areas to address, communication at home and in business, and the establishment of clear goals and a shared vision for attendees, their families and their businesses.

The workshop incorporates part of the world-renowned Ranch Management Consultants’ (RMC) ‘Ranching for Profit’ course, which will be facilitated by RMC owner Dallas Mount. Dallas has worked with thousands of ranchers and farmers across the USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia to position their businesses for economic profit and ecological health.

Attendees will also be able to take part in four quarterly virtual ‘Check-in’ sessions in 2024 with Dallas, where he will continue to support them on their journeys to healthy land, happy families and profitable businesses.

A two-day workshop will also run for industry consultants, ahead of the farmer-specific session, from 11 to 12 December 2023, focusing on developing their understanding of the new systems-based approach and discussing how they will work with the involved farmers and AHDB to motivate positive change.

The future of the programme

Key industry topics identified and discussed at the farmer workshop will inform AHDB Beef & Lamb’s knowledge exchange programme activity throughout 2024 and this will be open to all levy payers. It will provide more targeted support for levy payers in areas that they’ve expressed will really make a difference to them and their businesses.

Roots to Resilience represents a new approach in the delivery of our Beef & Lamb knowledge exchange programme. Historically, knowledge exchange within the industry has failed to think about the people in farming and what motivates them, instead focusing on technical areas in isolation.

The farmer workshop in December will give delegates the opportunity to step away from practical farming for three days and focus on long-term planning. It is very much about concentrating on people and what they want to achieve, not just in their businesses, but in their lives, as we know how intrinsically the two are linked.

The workshop will play a pivotal role in not only providing those attending with bespoke action plans for their businesses, but in equipping us at AHDB with greater insight into the topics that our levy payers want more support with, so we can deliver the best value for money in terms of the support services we offer.

Farmers, industry stakeholders and the wider agricultural community are invited to join AHDB Beef & Lamb in embracing the Roots to Resilience programme and its goal of empowering farmers and building a more resilient future for British agriculture.