Q&A: AHDB’s chief executive promises farmers better value

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board is determined to deliver better value for cash-strapped farmers, says chief executive Jane King.

Question and answer session edited by Johann Tasker.

See also: Levy body bids to become farming centre of excellence

Q: You’re introducing a new way of working this autumn. What does it involve?

A: Our view is we can work smarter and more efficiently by encouraging people to work more closely together within the organisation – people who at the moment do similar work but in different AHDB [Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board] teams or sectors.

Bringing our research and development people together with our knowledge exchange in one team, for example, will make it easier for people to collaborate and see where there is common ground across the different sectors.

Sector boards will continue to set strategy and ensure we deliver what levy payers want.

But we are going to be much more focused on measuring and evaluating what we do, focusing much more on outcomes and not just output.

Q: What does that mean in practice?

A: There will continue to be sector-focused work, but there will also be more opportunity to cut out waste and duplication.

Sector boards will continue to set priorities and levies will be ring-fenced to make sure that money is spent within the sector from which it was raised.

Grouping together R&D and knowledge exchange for cereals, potatoes and horticulture, for example, will create synergies and put us in a better position to undertake bigger pieces of research on issues that might benefit all three sectors – if that is what the sector boards want.

“We have to take criticism on the chin. A good organisation looks at itself and asks itself searching questions”
Jane King, AHDB

Q: Will it work when some sectors have competing interests?

A: There will always be some competing interests between sectors – that is the nature of the beast.

What we have to do is identify where there is common ground and where there are benefits from joining things up – so we can improve what we are delivering.

The cereals sector has a very successful Monitor Farms scheme, which is farmer-led and enables growers to learn from each other.

Now the dairy board is exploring the Monitor Farm concept and looking at whether some aspects of that scheme could benefit milk producers.

Q: What difference would I see as a farmer?

A: We believe we can offer better value and tighter insights to levy payers about what is going on in the marketplace.

They should also feel we are offering better practical, technical and business solutions that they can apply on their farms.

Levy payers should feel that we are more accessible, that we are undertaking really good analysis, that we are a first port of call – and that their levy is being really well spent.

We should be a talking point in the industry – and a talking point positively.

Q: You aren’t always talked about positively – some of your advice to farmers is rather basic, such as telling producers they can cut costs by feeding grass rather than concentrates

A: We have to take criticism on the chin.

A good organisation looks at itself and asks itself searching questions.

That is exactly what we have done.

We have undertaken a review and we are prepared to say we are good in parts, but we could be better.

Our ultimate goal is a step change for the industry – it isn’t about more of the same.

That is quite a hard message when the industry is facing serious hardship, so we are doing here-and-now stuff as well as looking at the longer term.

“Our ultimate goal is a step change for the industry – it isn’t about more of the same”
Jane King, AHDB

In dairy, we have a range of regional events around helping farmers who are facing enormous difficulties over business decisions and what they can do – including practical support work on the ground, although we can always do more.

Q: Will we see more promotional activity around “Buy British”?

A: We do a lot of marketing activity already. We do a lot of promotional work around QSM and the Red Tractor.

I can see some big opportunities around the Red Tractor – both at home and overseas, building on it and working more collaboratively with Red Tractor.

There are opportunities at home. We do a lot of educational work with consumers.

We have to be sure that it is good value for money – you have to be more precise than just saying “more marketing and promotion” and look at where you get most bangs for your buck.

Overseas, we have had good success with pork, beef and lamb exports in China and Hong Kong.

The idea is to work more closely with Red Tractor, the government and UK Trade & Investment to open more markets.

Q: What does that longer term future look like?

A: I think it is very, very optimistic. But we have to be prepared to adapt and grab the opportunities.

We have to become much more collaborative in how we work – like the Danes and the Irish who are much more joined up in the way they work.

They are small countries, but they have a strategy, their governments are working with them, their supply chain and processors are working cohesively with them and they are thinking about new products, how they can be developed and marketed.

We need to be equally ambitious.