Environmental-rural commentator, Rob Yorke, will facilitate the discussions at Arable Futures. Here’s a peek into his thoughts and hopes for the day.
If a predictably level playing field is your bag, now is the time to strap in. This conference is about building resilience around the Scottish arable farming sector by embracing innovation in all its diverse forms within the uncertainty of guaranteed change.
For this exercise, open-mindedness is a key element in exploring the opportunities and challenges unique to farming which will require fresh and previously untapped skills from farmers today.
It’s worth being curious, without prejudice, of what lies ahead. Climate risks, environmental regulation, commodity trade competition, optimising land use, dietary change, diversifying ‘farmed’ outputs and shifting contested research are all pertinent to the next generation of arable farmers and land managers alike, as husbandry and stewarding of farmland highlights a renewed focus on food-producing soils - while also freeing up land for other market demands from society.
When algorithms, generational instincts and tribal echo chambers encourage us not to break ranks, we must also find space for constructive dissent, outsider mindsets, and checking blind-spots via a range of voices - including provocateurs such as Professor Dieter Helm, Jack Bobo and Professor David Hughes.
This audience-mics roving event is all about enabling the whole room, not just the panellists, to collectively ‘lean-in’ within a judgment-free space, to explore the arable futures for the next decade and beyond.
Rob Yorke is an environmental commentator and moderator with 25 years of broad-church experience on building cross-sector trust towards collaborative solutions on the ground.
Image Rob Yorke, credit Hometree.ie.
