Hear from the experts – our 2019 Dairy Innovator judges…

With just 3 days to go until entries close for the 2019 British Farming Awards, we spoke to the Dairy Innovator judges for some last minute tips and advice.

With dairy commodities regularly hitting the headlines, the Dairy Innovator of the Year award celebrates producers who are positive about the future of the industry and are working to build a successful and profitable enterprise.

Find out more about the Dairy Innovator of the Year category here.

Want to put your farm business in front of these fantastic industry experts?
There’s still time to enter – you can start your entry here. If you don’t have time to fill it in straight away, it’s no problem you can start and come back to it later!

Why do you think it’s important to recognise and celebrate your category within the agricultural industry?
It’s important to recognise and celebrate dairy innovation because all progress and change, for the better, is what drives us all to improve. Our successes within the industry should be marked because they help create positive outcomes.

Why should people get excited about the British Farming Awards?
People should be very excited about the British Farming Awards because it provides the ideal platform for the industry to reward progressive farming. It’s a great social occasion and an excellent chance to let off some steam amongst like minded people.

Many of the awards celebrate innovation, why is this important to the development of agriculture?
Agricultural needs to be dynamic in a fast changing world. Innovation can bring huge leaps in so many aspects of farming business. The mind boggles at what the next innovation might be.

Why can entering awards help grow as a business and also as an individual?
Winning an award can help propel you and your business to a new level by getting you noticed. It can also give you the confidence that people have faith in you. It shows recognition for effort and endeavour you/your team have put in to achieve your outcomes. Many doors can open from being part of this event.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing agriculture? And how can the industry overcome them?
The challenges to this industry are vast but consumerism and climate change have to be some of the biggest, and these headings in themselves cover so many issues. Celebrating our successes and showing them off to the outside world is an excellent and positive way for the industry to promote who we are.

What will you be looking for when reviewing the entries for the British Farming Awards? What would make an entry stand out to you?
I will be looking for an energetic and enthusiastic entrant who has responded to a need they have identified in their business/industry. I am interested in the journey to get to where they are now. I will also be interested to see what they might do to pass on their experiences to help others.

Why do you think it’s important to recognise and celebrate your category within the agricultural industry?
It’s important as we need everyone involved within the UK dairy industry to keep pushing the boundaries and improving their animal welfare, environment and education to the younger generations so they understand where they’re food comes from. That’s why we need to celebrate the people who try for new things and take the risk, anyone who makes an improvement to the industry should be putting their name forward

Why should people get excited about the British Farming Awards? 
Because it’s show casing the best, people who others can be inspired from both inside and outside the industry.

Many of the awards celebrate innovation, why is this important to the development of agriculture?
We live in a time where innovation is more important than ever, as farmers we have huge responsibilities to play in leading other countries to having a more sustainable world. For many of the sectors in agriculture we need to start looking at how we can become more sustainable, how can we put back into the soils what we take out, how can we feed a world population that keeps growing but not destroy the planet in doing so. In my opinion innovation is a key word for farming at the moment.

Why can entering awards help grow as a business and also as an individual
It gives the individual more confidence as they are recognised within the industry as being good at what they do. For me it gave me more confidence to take bigger and bolder decisions. This then in turn helps grow the business.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing agriculture? And how can the industry overcome them?
Mostly mentioned in the above questions. Sustainability is the word, setting examples for other industries and other countries to follow.  We have to make more effort to put back what we take out, renewable energy and recycling

What will you be looking for when reviewing the entries for the British Farming Awards? What would make an entry stand out to you?Someone who is an inspiring character to other people in the industry, working towards a more sustainable farming system or someone who thinks out of the box and takes risks.

Why do you think it’s important to recognise and celebrate your category within the agricultural industry?
In the 25 years since deregulation dairying has gone from the relative cosy world of MMB price setting to a competitive industry with volatile prices reacting to global factors on top of the more domestic. Dairy Innovators will be the ones to survive and thrive in the next 25 years which will include Brexit, US/China trade wars and Climate Change. They need to be recognised and celebrated as a challenge to the rest of the industry.

Why should people get excited about the British Farming Awards?
Contrary to ill-informed received wisdom farming has been innovating for over 250 years and will continue to do so. For the farming public these awards are a glimpse into the future direction for their industry, what’s not exciting about that!

Many of the awards celebrate innovation, why is this important to the development of agriculture?
In all walks of life you never stop learning, closing your mind to change is likely to lead to your extinction. Farming is the same, you learn by observing, adapting and applying to meet your own business needs, who better to observe than those winning awards through the demonstration of innovation.

Why can entering awards help grow as a business and also as an individual
It’s that learning process again, challenging your own ideas, making you justify your actions and exposing you to others with similar or even completely different outlooks helps you to develop as a person and as a farmer.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing agriculture? And how can the industry overcome them?
Brexit is the biggest challenge ahead with the Govt offering asymmetric tariffs in the event of a no-deal outcome which will be granting our EU competitors immediate competitive advantage and is a hint to what future trade agreements with other countries may look like. Building a business model that cope with that kind of future environment will require many qualities that will set you apart from the herd and a worthy recipient of the Dairy Innovator Award.

What will you be looking for when reviewing the entries for the British Farming Awards? What would make an entry stand out to you?
The business definition is “The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need.” So I will be looking for something new that is making a positive contribution to the business and can be replicated by others in the dairy sector.