The capacity to change is not fixed. It can be built. That is the most hopeful conclusion of this study.
I began this study expecting to find that UK farm businesses were falling behind for want of better marketing or stronger supply chains. What I found, across four overseas study tours and extensive UK engagement, reframed the question entirely. Behavioural change in farming – not technical knowledge – is the missing capability. Farm business resilience, where it exists, is built not on the best land or the largest scale, but on the habit of adaptation. Agricultural policy change in the UK has created the pressure. Farmer identity, farm succession planning and the culture of UK agricultural extension determine whether businesses can respond.
That reframing is the subject of this report.