This year’s Cultivate conference, hosted at Heaton House Farm in Macclesfield and powered by agri-marketing agency Hillsgreen, explored its theme – “Leading through change” – via its wide variety of speakers, who shared their expertise in rural management, leadership and business growth.
Embracing change
Communications professional Nigel Risner opened the day’s proceedings with a lively presentation that reminded the audience that ‘since we’ve all lived through change, there is little point in fearing it.’
Nigel, who is a motivational speaker by trade, explained that to understand our businesses, we must understand our behaviours and those of our customers; we must look to the future rather than being restrained by the past; and sometimes volunteering your time and energy may feel like the hardest step to take, but the benefits may far outweigh the perceived cost.
“I was reminded that farming is a network of passionate individuals united by the industry we work in, all the while facing bespoke challenges.”
Joss Naylor
Insight from industry leaders
Every speaker on the Cultivate programme was specifically chosen because of the value and insight they can provide to those working in the rural and agricultural sector. It was therefore no surprise to hear from two speakers at the top of their respective produce markets: Eleanor Thatcher from Thatchers Cider, and Sarah Dean from Noble Foods.
As part of her presentation, Eleanor Thatcher underlined the importance of a solid relationship between employer and employee to successful business practice. She outlined the loyalty that Thatchers has to both its traditions and employees, with 20% of its staff being trained in-house through apprenticeships – a level above the industry standard.
Similarly, Sarah Dean spoke about the worth of a company vision and relationship-building. Large-scale agricultural businesses are successful when human relationships are valued alongside business strategy and ambition, she said.
Sarah argued that success is also achieved when decisions are made with a consideration of their effects upon producers, animals and the planet even when the decisions themselves are difficult.
Sarah Dean, from Noble Foods, spoke about the worth of a company vision and relationship-building.
Both speakers circled back to the value and importance of the family business, articulating the power multigenerational legacies have within the modern-day market as well as the challenges these businesses face.
They explored how new trends – such as “free” products like ‘Crack’d: The Egg Free Egg’ and ‘Thatcher’s Zero’ – represent evolutions of the entrepreneurial spirit within the families, even if they may not have been the traditional or expected ideas for their businesses.
No ‘one‑size‑fits‑all’ sector
Speaking of unexpected ideas, many lessons could be learned from those outside the sector. Adventurer and expedition leader Oli France’s talk added to the variety of discussions that were made regarding the volatility of working with the natural environment. He emphasised the importance of what he termed the ‘Cs’– clarity, conviction and competence when communicating, to ensure that “trust is an unseen power” even when challenges seem insurmountable.
There was one other important ‘C’ highlighted at this year’s conference – and that was ‘caricature’. It’s easy to think that all farmers face the same challenges, and that’s something that the Cultivate conference thoroughly scrutinised. It deliberately avoided presenting farming as a ‘one‑size‑fits‑all’ sector.
Reflecting on everything I heard throughout the day, I was reminded that farming is a network of passionate individuals united by the industry we work in, all the while facing bespoke challenges. All that is left to do, to tackle those challenges, is to action the ideas presented.
