In this blog post, Alicia Martin, a new member of the Future Farmers of Yorkshire Management Board, introduces herself and previews our Spring Debate. Save the date for Thursday 20th March 2025!
Agriculture is in my blood. I grew up on a family farm in North Yorkshire, completed a degree in agriculture and have now worked in the industry for nearly 12 years.
My last four years have been spent at Kings Crops, part of Frontier Agriculture.
Never has there been a more crucial time for us all within the sector to work together to promote and maintain the high standards we all pride ourselves on, and so I am honoured to have recently joined the Management Board of Future Farmers of Yorkshire with such a great team of people.
I wanted to join the team to give back to agriculture, to help deliver opportunities that bring together like-minded people. I believe knowledge exchange is crucial to our success as an industry.
Future Farmers has so many exciting things to offer, from bursaries to its excellent Spring and Autumn debates which I have certainly learnt a lot from.
I have attended the Groundswell festival on behalf of Kings Crops for the last four years and it’s great that Future Farmers offers the opportunity to others to attend this excellent event in June, all about regenerative agriculture.
Mission POSSIBLE
At Future Farmers, we are organising the network’s Spring Debate, to take place at Hornington Manor near York on the evening of Thursday 20th March and entitled ‘Mission POSSIBLE: Adapting your vision for success’.
So, what can you expect from this event?
Well, we all know that agriculture never stands still, it’s an industry that is constantly at the mercy of external dynamics and threatened with change.
With so many factors outside of our direct control how do we adopt and maintain a resilient mindset whilst seeing opportunities?
Are we too submissive to accepted routes to market? What opportunity do we have to see beyond the status quo; to interrogate our own path to success?
Structuring your business for success is not a linear journey, nor without risk.
Drawing on their own first-hand experiences, our speakers will debate how best to navigate this business journey, and what the difference is between taking calculated risks and stubbornly pursuing ambition.
We ask them: to what extent can we take our destinies into our own hands and realise a thriving, adaptable business model that can support our families?
Our panel will explain how they have reaped the rewards of their own decision making, how they have seen opportunity in challenge, and how they adapted their vision to navigate obstacles to show us that your mission to be a success is indeed POSSIBLE.
Embracing change
Change can often be seen as negative, but I see change as exciting.
Change asks us the question: how can we utilise our own knowledge and expertise to advance agriculture in the right way, with the right guidance?
Something we have always said on the farm at home is that we are guardians of the land, endeavouring to leave the farm in the best place we can for the following generation.
Sometimes we need to shout more about the great things we are all doing, as not only is it something the public may not realise but also others within the sector, who may be able to follow those ideas and implement them on their own farms.
Future Farmers is funded and supported by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to provide this platform for everyone, for forward-thinking voices to be heard, and it is a group I am very proud to be a part of.
Anyone in the industry, regardless of experience or sector, is welcome to join our membership. It’s free and by doing so, you will receive all our latest news first, including more details about our Spring Debate – take a look here.
