New chairman vows to rebuild confidence in the AHDB

Norfolk farmer and newly appointed AHDB chairman, Emily Norton, has vowed to put levy payers at the forefront of the organisation and rebuild confidence across the farming sector.

Setting out her vision for the future of the levy board, Ms Norton plans to ensure the AHDB plays a central role in supporting farmers, strengthens engagement with levy payers, and restores confidence on farm.

Talking to Farmers Weekly, she said: “What farmers need is to be able to farm and farm well, and trust that organisations like the AHDB are able to do a job on their behalf.”

See also: Emily Norton named new chairman of AHDB

Quiet advocacy

Ms Norton acknowledged that while the levy board might not shout in the same way as other organisations, it was able to work in the background by providing evidence and quiet advocacy.

“Quite a lot of the effort we are doing is behind the scenes,” she said.

“It’s the market access, it’s the export work, making sure we are continuing to champion levy payers and market interests.”

She intends to rebuild trust in the levy board through visibility and transparency, by attending industry events and meeting directly with farmers.

The AHDB is already offering good value for money for levy payers, according to Ms Norton, however there could be scope to change how it operates within industry.

She said: “It is doing a really good job behind the scenes. There is always work to do to make sure we are meeting those ever changing expectations

“In the future, it needs to think quite carefully about what that funding model looks like, how it’s able to do more partnerships with government, and how it is able to de-risk that, so we can continue to deliver services for farmers regardless of what the market is performing like.”

Environmental agenda

A diverse professional career spanning law, farm management, advisory roles and board positions at the Soil Association, has equipped Ms Norton with a wide perspective on industry challenges.

However, this has also led to scrutiny, with Farmers Weekly receiving a number of letters following Ms Norton’s appointment, criticising her heavy emphasis on net-zero and regenerative farming rather than food production, which the AHDB is reliant on for its own income.

Ms Norton insisted there was room for a wide range of farming systems.

“The key thing that we need to focus on as an industry is productivity – maximising the value of your outputs compared to the value of your inputs,” she said.

 “We need more soil health, more value add, more science – we need more of everything to make this industry sustainable.

“I think it’s just really important that everybody, regardless of their preference as to their production system, futureproofs themselves.”

Farm assurance

Farm assurance was “critical” in Ms Norton’s view for food safety and market access.

She said: “We need to work out how it works for all sectors because there is a difference between farm assurance and provenance and that’s quite an important distinction to make.”

Ms Norton confirmed that she was looking forward to working with Red Tractor, but acknowledged that the assurance body had got to listen to farmers and engage following heavy criticism from industry.

“We have got to be careful that we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” she said.

“Things like assurance are absolutely needed to make sure we are meeting the needs of the marketplace.”

Support for family farms

Ensuring that the business landscape for farming supports productive and profitable farming is a key concern for everybody, according to Ms Norton, with fears about how changes to inheritance tax (IHT) could impact the sector next year.

She indicated that the AHDB faced limitations in how openly it can vocalise its views as a non-departmental public body, but said the levy board recognised the financial pressures on levy payers and it could contribute by providing analysis and evidence of the impacts of IHT to industry.

Ms Norton spoke out earlier in the year about how 45% of farms contribute to just 2% of total output.

However, when questioned about the future for small family farms, she outlined the resilience they had shown and the important role they play.

She said: “I absolutely believe there’s a future for family farms and also an awful lot of what they’re doing isn’t priced at the moment, it goes unpaid.”

Diversity

Finally, Ms Norton was keen to ensure the agricultural industry becomes more accessible to all, where everyone can see a role for themselves in the future.

She noted that the barriers to farming were often high and the industry needed to champion people from diverse backgrounds.

She said: “I would like anybody who is considering whether they would think themselves capable of being our new chief executive at AHDB to have a conversation with me because we really need good leaders, and it’s good leaders who are able to demonstrate that pathway to other people.

“So, I want to encourage applicants from as diverse a background as possible, who have got skills that can make a difference for the good of our sector.”