New white paper is critical of industry and suggests pathway to better future for recruitment
There needs to be a fundamental reset in how UK farming treats, develops and leads its people, according to a new white paper.
Written by Paul Harris, founder and managing director of REAL Success, the report argues that the industry’s biggest threat is no longer a labour shortage, but a failure of leadership, culture and people management.
Titled ‘Facing the Future: Why UK Farming Must Put People First’, the white paper argues that unless farming urgently improves working conditions, leadership capability and career development, it will continue to struggle to attract and retain the next generation of workers.
“If we want new people to enter farming, we must first change how we treat, develop and lead the people already in it,” Harris said. “Farming has upgraded heavily in technology, genetics and systems, but it has failed to invest at the same level in its people. That gap is now threatening the future of the industry.”
The paper challenges the belief that ‘people don’t want to work in farming,’ suggesting instead that the real issue is that too many farm businesses have not evolved as workplaces.
While UK farming has made rapid progress on sustainability, animal welfare, automation and environmental standards, leadership skills, staff wellbeing, working hours, facilities and career pathways have often been left behind, Harris claims.
The result, the paper says, is an industry that unintentionally exhausts, discourages and loses good people, while relying on a shrinking recruitment pool to mask deeper structural problems. “The issue is not that people don’t want to work in farming,” said Harris. “The issue is that we have not created farms where they can see themselves having a future.”
Drawing on real farm examples from across the UK, the paper says that businesses that invest in leadership, communication and working conditions are already seeing tangible benefits. These include higher productivity, lower staff turnover and improved wellbeing for both owners and employees.
10-point action plans
Facing the Future sets out two practical 10-point action plans – one for industry leaders and one for individual farmers – designed to deliver immediate and long-term change.
Key recommendations include:
- Creating a National People Standard for farming, setting clear expectations for working conditions, leadership and staff development
- Putting people welfare on the same footing as animal welfare, recognising its impact on safety, productivity and performance
- Embedding people-management metrics into supply chain assurance schemes, with retailers and processors playing a leading role
- Launching a positive national Careers in Farming campaign that reflects the reality and potential of modern agriculture
- Investing in leadership and people-management training, not just machinery and technology
- Improving basic but vital on-farm facilities, working hours and communication
- Recruiting for values and attitude and supporting new entrants with proper induction and development.
Following the findings of the white paper, REAL Success said it will step back from providing traditional recruitment agency services and refocus its efforts on retention, talent development, building internal capability, as well as HR and succession planning.
“If farming is to thrive in the next decade, it must become a career of choice for the next generation and for people currently working outside our sector,” Harris concluded. “This means moving beyond slogans, subsidies and outside agencies, towards practical leadership, fair employment practices, and a shared pride in what farming stands for.
“The UK doesn’t just need more people in farming. It requires more people-centred farms. This white paper offers a starting point for the transformation the industry needs and can no longer ignore.”
