Minette shared her experiences of leadership in the agricultural sector, alongside Group Finance Director at Frontier Agriculture Ltd Diana Overton, and Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London David Hughes.
“I was the underdog,” Minette said, remembering the period prior to her appointment as an NFU officeholder. “I was a tenant farmer on 300 acres and I still am, and very proud of it too.”
Minette recalled receiving a text on the day she was elected: “It said ‘just remember, being a woman you’ll have to work twice as hard and you’ll be judged twice as hard’. That message has stayed with me throughout these past ten years.”
“From that day on I was determined on behalf of women, not to let them down – that has been the driver for whatever woman comes in to be the next NFU President.”
‘No playbook’ for the past ten years
In a discussion on people who could ‘open doors’ Minette said she had been described as “crashing through them”, adding that the first lesson she learned was that “crashing through was the easy part – it’s what you do when you get through to the other side that matters”.
“This is what our professional staff have helped me to understand and I have nothing but admiration for the people who work at the NFU – we are a union led by farmers, for farmers but we are backed by technical expertise and that is our great strength.”
“We have to listen to young people – their views are going to be very different to ours, we have to allow them to shape the NFU’s future.”
NFU President Minette Batters
Since coming into office during 2014 first as Deputy President and then President in 2018, Minette said there had been “no playbook” for the events of the past ten years, citing Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine as just some of the challenges the industry has faced.
She said there are now huge challenges with social media and ‘group-think’ and that, going forwards, “we have to listen to young people – they are going to be very different to ours, we have to allow them to shape the NFU’s future”.
Harnessing diversity of thought
Group Finance Director at Frontier Agriculture Ltd Diana Overton talked through Frontier’s women’s development programme, aimed at identifying “some of the societal, organisational and personal barriers which research has shown can prevent women from reaching their potential in their careers” and supporting women on a number of key areas such as building confidence and increasing self-awareness.
“Agriculture is facing its biggest transformation – the environment in which we all operate is changing, we have to improve our long-term resilience and security of our food supply chain,” Diana said.
“Whether the threat is from a pandemic, climate change, or conflict, we all risk losing our livelihoods whether we are farmers or work for agricultural organisations. Our source of income is under threat if we don’t recognise the need for change. We need to surround ourselves with new ideas and innovative people.
“Leadership is about identifying the best solution to the challenge being faced and as leaders we have a responsibility to be open to diverse ideas.”
Diana said that “the leadership of our industry today is not representative of the diversity of its members” despite the fact that agriculture as an industry is already gender diverse. She said “farm businesses are often dependant on women who will typically be juggling multiple back office roles...all crucial to the success of a modern farming business”.
“Today’s leadership is not representative of the diversity of its members...farm businesses are often dependant on women who will typically be juggling multiple back office roles...all crucial to the success of a modern farming business.”
Group Finance Director at Frontier Agriculture Ltd Diana Overton
These roles, she added, are “embracing innovation on a daily basis, harnessing the data and technology which will be critical to identifying new solutions for our industry”.
“The visible face of agriculture does not reflect this diversity – here is my challenge to you, if you have ideas and are not visible, be brave, step out of the back office and the shadows.”
‘The power is on your plate’
Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London David Hughes spoke on farmers leading on issues relating to food production and climate change.
Through his research, he said he found it to be “just common sense” for the farm sector to “lead on issues relating to the environmental impact of food production, albeit in collaboration with the other key sectors”.
UK consumers have a “high level of trust in UK farmers” and are “interested but not well-educated on how our food is produced”.
“Consumer trust in British farmers and our agriculture provides the farming sector with leverage when collaborating with our powerful food industry players (including government) on environmental issues,” Professor Hughes concluded.
