What's going on in the UK ag scene

Alot of discussion revolved around the impact/ influence of the subsidy payments system on farmer innovation.  After the conference I set off on a tour of numerous organisations including the UK, Welsh and Scottish Young Farmers, Lantra, Dairy Co, NFU, NFU Mutual, FUW to name a few.  As well as seeking to gain a  clearer understanding of my study topic, I also wanted to get a better understanding of how subsidy payments influence the attitudes of farmers with growing their business and adopting innovation.  

There is a link between the two, infact an inverse relationship, I believe.  In otherwords, the provsion of subsidies seem to reduce the adoption of new ideas and techology.  I pursued a line of questioning to better understand how and why this would be happening.  

To summarise, the impact of the subsidy regime acts against the adootion of innovation in several ways; it maintains the existence of lesser productive and profitable businesses, it makes farm sucession more difficult ot achieve, it breeds a degree of complacency within the farm business, it creates a victim mindset within the farming fraturnity which is counter to self reliance, and it creates production inefficiencies.  As a competitor to the UK red meat industry I am not unhappy about the existence of the subsidy system.  As a fellow farmer it saddens me.

Below are a gethering of local agri-professions who are setting up a hub of professional contacts in Shropshire.