What farming needs now more than ever.....

There has been a lot of talk recently of UK farmer protests following the action we've seen on the continent. Should we or shouldn't we?

Personally, I'm not in favour of protests for one main reason. They are too short term.

The EU have decided to scrap plans to halve pesticide use on the continent much to the delight of protesting farmers. So did the farmers 'win'? No, I don't think so.

Farmer protests are becoming old news. The crowds have retreated and it's back to the same old without any fundamental changes.

So what's the alternative?

What's missing?

What we really need is to build a BRAND around British farming and British produce.

We need to build a brand that consumers love and are willing to pay more for.

Let's break it down.

As farmers, we are world class at the production and operations side of business. In our industry, we don't really need to worry about the sales as there always will be a demand for food.

But what we're missing is the marketing and branding element. Without it we will continue to be commodity price takers rather than branded price makers.

And that has to change.

Some examples if you please.....

There are thousands of examples of successful brands but one of the most recent ones is Liquid Death.

If you don't know, it's bottled (sorry, canned) water. Read that again - WATER. It's the most readily available commodity on the planet and yet Liquid Death have created a £500M brand out of it. This demonstrates the power of brand.

If they can do that for water, imagine what we could do with milk?

On a separate note, name me one New Zealand wine producer (without Googling it!)? Nope, I can't either. Yet I'm pretty sure you could tell me something about New Zealand wine. Why? Because they've created a brand around the country and what they represent.

British beef anyone?

Long term thinking

If farming is to survive and thrive long term then we need long term thinking. Not another flash in the pan, media grabbing action that is here one day, gone the next.

Yes, it will take money. Yes, it will take time and yes, it will take patience. But I believe that building a brand that consumers love and are willing to pay more for is the best way to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in.

And if no one else wants to take on the challenge then I will.

Until next week......