Six farmers are being sought after to join the Monitor Farm network across the UK, to help share performance information and best practice in the industry.
AHDB Monitor Farms bring together groups of farmers who want to improve their businesses by sharing performance information and best practice around a nationwide network of more than 30 host farms.
Monitor Farms are part of AHDB’s wider Farm Excellence Platform, which works with the industry to improve performance through knowledge exchange and benchmarking.
Each Monitor Farm project is hosted by a farm that is representative of other farms in the area.
AHDB organises and facilitates Monitor Farm meetings for farmers, who own and operate the scheme – by farmers, for farmers.
Tom Bradshaw, former AHDB Monitor Farm Host in Colchester, said at the recent Grain Market Outlook Conference: “One of the real highlights of the Monitor Farm programme for me is sharing information. Neighbours get together – they are not competitors any more but working together to solve challenges.”
'Open-minded farmers'
New for this year, AHDB will be recruiting one of the six new Monitor Farms in Northern Ireland.
Tim Isaac, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Head of Knowledge Exchange, said: “As we build on the success of the programme by extending its coverage at this crucial time, we are keen to reach out to growers across all parts of the UK, now including Northern Ireland.”
Judith Stafford, AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager for Northern England and Northern Ireland, said farmers who are "open-minded" looking to further their business are well-suited to being a monitor farmer.
“We find that the more the host and the rest of the group are willing to put into the project, the more everybody benefits,” she said.
“The Monitor Farm and visiting farmers will also be able to learn from independent, non-commercial experts discussing subjects that are of local relevance and which have been identified as priorities by the farmer group.”
Interviews will be held in January and February 2018, with the successful farm being announced in March 2018.
AHDB currently runs 14 arable-focused Monitor Farm in England, and three in Scotland under a joint scheme with Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). Six more farms will be joining the programme next spring.
