Jim Orson, AFCP trustee, shares some thoughts following AFCP’s event on 19th November 2025: What is the future of farming? What is our role in it?
The future of farming
“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer”. So said the American entertainer and social commentator Will Rogers during the great depression, now around 100 years ago.
Well, there is not much optimism in UK farming at the moment. It seems that it is not favoured by our politicians and there is a policy void in the UK. Commodity prices are low, food chains are being disrupted by wars and politics, environmental pressures seem to be increasing and, added to these, there is climate change. The three previous years in the UK have seen weather that has very much limited agricultural production and profitability.
It is this background that resulted in the AgriFood Charities Partnership (AFCP) hosting an open discussion on the future of farming at the Royal Veterinary College in mid-November. The intention of the meeting was to share insights with agricultural charities, both individually and possibly collectively, on how best to support the industry in the future.
What was clear from the outset was that with so many moving parts, the precise future of UK farming cannot be predicted. However, various themes could be easily identified including the need for technical excellence, new technology, cost control, animal, crop and soil health, value added at the farm gate and environmental responsibility and enhancement.
Currently, member charities of the AFCP support around 40 PhD studies on animal health, plant breeding and agronomy. They are some of the very few funders who support research into knowledge, technologies, and techniques that can be immediately adopted into practice. This is the final and vital link in the research chain and I consider it paramount that this area of research continues to be supported. However, the number of projects supported will, as always, depend on identifying suitable candidates who have sound and appropriate research applications.
Inevitably AI was mentioned as a possible game changer. It is worth noting that the disappointing progress in the precision application of crop inputs has not been due to a lack of crop sensing and input application technology. This is largely due to some critical areas of biological knowledge being incomplete. The same will apply with the adoption of AI: its value can only be maximised if there is a fairly complete knowledge of the individual biological processes involved in decisions. Perhaps charities should be pro-actively seeking to identify areas of knowledge that are still required in order to enable those proficient in AI to develop tools to help farming in the future. Charities may also help fund the appropriate research; they have a well-established track record in this area of endeavour.
One speaker at the meeting suggested that charity time and funding could be usefully invested in cross-industry initiatives to solve specific issues. The examples provided related to animal health but it is easy to see how charities can contribute to cross-industry initiatives in all aspects of agricultural production, including environmental issues. The latter is more likely to attract government involvement and funding and may also get some NGOs participating. An issue that involves the whole industry is water quality and one charity is already taking an initiative in this area. The agricultural industry needs to be better at protecting our water bodies and waterways.
This is a very personal view. The audience of around 30 in person and 15 online heard about the challenges to farming and some ways of tackling them. We also heard how judiciously charities choose what they spend their money on. Charities like to support people who wish to remain in and contribute to the industry. Whilst this is often by funding PhDs, there is also significant investment in a range of educational, training and research activities.
The final speaker outlined the personnel requirements that may be needed in the future. This was followed by a detailed discussion on the future needs for skills, upskilling and training. This discussion also included how to identify gaps in the current skill sets and training. The setting of targets was suggested to prevent gaps appearing in the future.
Finally, one delegate warned that charity funding should not be spread too thinly by ‘chasing rainbows’. To this end, the event did seek to identify how the charities and the wider industry could work more closely together to make best use of limited resources. Despite the progress made at this event, there remains plenty of food for thought for the AFCP and the individual agricultural charities.
Event Details
Wednesday 19th November 2025, 9.30-12.45
Kindly hosted Royal Veterinary College, London, NW1 0TU
We bring together charities, partners and other organisations as we seek synergy through collaboration and innovation in the agri-food sector, a sector that is under unprecedented economic and political pressure at home and abroad.
With rising food prices but ever diminishing returns for producers, the land-based sector has an ageing workforce, and an increasing skills gap. Add to this monumental external forces, such as military conflict and international tariff chaos, and a consumer population that struggles to balance industrial production efficiencies with the vogue for small scale eco-initiatives, and we face a perfect storm.
What is the future of farming, and what is our role in it?
As part of this year’s AGM, hosted at the Royal Veterinary College in London, a hybrid forum was held for a nationwide exchange of views and debate amongst our stakeholders. Stimulated by short keynote presentations, including an introduction from Lord Curry of Kirkharle, the meeting sought to answer these two important questions and map our strategic objectives to the sector needs. An industry under duress arguably needs its charitable elements more than ever… but how do we come together to do that best and how is our voice heard by those whom we look to for leadership?
