Farmer Focus: Basic on-farm innovation holds key to progress
Rob McGregor © Tim Scrivener Sitting down to write my last Farmer Focus is surprisingly challenging, not least because when it all began back in February 2019, I thought at best I could be making a commitment that would last for just a couple of years.
That in itself felt like a Herculean task for someone who openly admits to being one of the world’s most unlikely columnists. Seven years and 70 deadlines later, I’m reflecting on the highs and lows.
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It has been far from a run of the mill time for all of us. I’ve been looking back over some of the things I’ve written and, despite finding an astonishingly wide range of topics to tackle – most, thankfully, in some way linked to farming – there are some that have been visited time and time again.
My big five are: farm safety, animal welfare, biosecurity, staffing and innovation. In my mind, the last of these, innovation, holds the key to the other four.
Small changes on our farms can make huge differences to outcomes, and it doesn’t even have to involve inventing anything (although for me that’s always fun).
In my experience, taking advantage of what exists and adapting it to our specific requirements is the simplest, most basic form of innovation and one that we should be making the most of.
For example, as an industry, we have made little progress collectively with tackling our poor farm safety record, and yet still most of use make no use of hi-vis clothing, even when working around moving machinery or in low light conditions.
It doesn’t need to be head to toe – I get the fact nobody wants to spend their working day looking like a traffic cone – but just a comfortable gilet or jacket that helps us be seen will prevent accidents, injuries and even deaths.
Getting struck or crushed by moving vehicles unnecessarily tops the HSE list of UK farm fatalities. It would be so good if that could change.
Being part of the Farmers Weekly team has been a privilege, and it’s introduced me to many new friends and reintroduced me to some old ones.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who’s supported me at Farmers Weekly, along with my family, especially Tom and Del.
It’s been a great experience being able to share my thoughts and achievements with you.