Issues facing Agricultural Engineering

Hi, I’m Roger Lane Nott and I’m the Director General and Chief Executive of the Agricultural Engineer’s Association. And I am going to talk to you about issues facing agricultural engineering today.

First and foremost of course is the recession. It’s affecting us all, both in our day to day lives and in our professional lives. Agriculture has been affected just like everyone else. Although in agriculture we’re more used to dealing with the sign wave of ups and downs as economic conditions change. We understand too the administrative burden that it’s placing on you as members of the AEA. And we are also particularly keen to try and access for you both UK government and EU money that is available for any type of stimulation packages for innovation and so on.

We know that credit for SMEs is a particular problem and regardless of what the banks may tell you and what is in the newspapers, the reality we’ve heard from SMEs is that credit is a difficult issue and that the banks aren’t lending as they should. We are addressing that and we’re talking to them and trying to encourage them to do more for SMEs.

We know there are shortages, shortages of commodities. You can’t get the steel that you want or you can’t get suppliers who can provide the extra bits and pieces that you need. And we’re here to support you in that and help you try and find those suppliers and try and help you fight your way through the system. Against this of course is the whole free trader debate, whether or not with a single market in Europe you can get in and actually sell to those markets.

Research and development. That’s a very important part and we appreciate fully that each company likes to do its own thing. But we are working very closely with the technology strategy board in an attempt to try and open up some of the funding that’s both within that board and also within the Research Councils to help you if you want to research particular areas. Again, innovation is the key, new ideas, novel ideas, they’re always welcome. And we will help you try and work your way through to try and get some of that funding. It will allow you to have a wider and deeper approach to what’s going on.

So the next one is probably the strategy for the future of agricultural engineering. Not only in the UK, but in Europe and the world. You may be aware that the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, announced back in January, his food 2030 strategy and it will not surprise you that in 84 pages, there was not one mention of machinery. I have written to him and I have asked him that he must include agricultural machinery in that particular strategy, but currently it’s not there.

So what are we doing in the industry? Well clearly climate change is a big area and we need to certainly consider how we can contribute towards that. Farmers we know want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and also their energy bills, so all our machinery and manufacturers are already doing this. Trying to reduce the fuel usage, trying to make their engines more efficient and trying to make machinery more efficient for the farmer. So that strategy is going to continue, it’s going to be amended I’m sure. But we’re right at the forefront of that debate.

That brings me onto biofuels. A difficult subject because only two years ago we all thought that biofuels was going to be simply the answer. Well it’s not quite the answer. The reality of it is, is that in this country we just don’t have the land to grow the volume of crops that would provide biofuel. And we’ve not really invested as a country in biofuels and biofuel plants. But it will still be on the map and I’m quite sure that it will come back again in the not too distant future. And it certainly, along with electric, hybrid systems and fuel efficient systems is one of the areas we have to look to in the future.

The depletion of our natural resources and the health risks. You don’t need me to tell you about health and safety. It is vital and there are far too many people being hurt and injured and some even some fatalities both on farms and in agricultural engineering as a whole. They are less than they were and there’s a lot of work going on to try and highlight that. But we do need to keep an eye on it. As far as natural resources are concerned, we know that agriculture uses a great deal of fossil fuels and one of the big challenges for the next ten years is to try and reduce our reliance on those fossil fuels.

Competition. A difficult subject again. The Single European Market is supposed to be just that. But the realities of it aren’t quite like that. And we’ve seen recently Russia who’s gone back into its shell and is actually providing a protectionism system for their own agricultural manufacturers and stopping importers coming in there. I am sure that will ease as the financial pressure eases. But competition and being able to compete within Europe is fundamental to our agreement with this.
The Common Agricultural Policy. Again, you don’t need me to tell you the whole business of common agriculture and where it’s been over the last 25, 30, 40 years. We believe that reform is in the air. Unfortunately the United Kingdom hasn’t got a seat at the table which is a pity. And we are pushing hard to make sure that the UK government puts forward all the various elements that are required to reform the common agricultural policy in a proper manner.

Water. Again, water is an area that is going to be increasingly important. We’ve seen irrigation companies coming and going they’re increasing. And use of water, the proper use of water, the conservation of water and how we use it within agricultural engineering is fundamental. And farmers are looking hard to us in the industry to try and find ways of using innovation in an attempt to use less of it.

Technical competence. Well this is all about skills and people. It’s difficult to assess just how many people work in agricultural engineering. Some people would say between six and 20,000 people. It’s probably somewhere in the middle of that in actual fact. But we’re not getting the skilled people in that we need. This is partly down to the education system that is not providing school children coming out of school with the right English, Maths and Science subjects that employers want.

It’s partly down to the industry that has not really got a proper careers programme and provide a proper career structure for somebody who wants to go into agricultural engineering. And that is being addressed too by Careers Project which is a multi-faceted operation between lots of associations working together and also we are working hard to retain technicians. If you want to be a technician it’s very important that we provide that career path and that we give you a proper sequence in which you can move up the ranks, but again there’s a line to pay. We need to, in the industry, do more to try and persuade people and encourage people to come back and work on the land.

Ecommerce. Well it’s all around us isn’t it? Everybody uses the internet, everybody goes and buys your Christmas presents and so forth and uses it every day for online things. And it’s no different in agriculture. We’re finding again more and more ecommerce is becoming a key issue. Now I am not saying that people will go and buy a combine harvester on eBay, but the reality of it is that they will certainly go and look on the internet and see what’s available and then go to their local dealer to choose what they want.

So ecommerce is something that, as an industry, we’re really paying attention to and every manufacturer has his products properly displaced on websites and you can search and find exactly what you want without ever going near one. But I would encourage you that of course the expertise to provide the service and to meet your specific requirements is available by the agricultural dealer.

Finally of course, consumer rights. And that’s a particular problem in agriculture because there are all sorts of issues that affect consumer rights. We’ve seen what Europe has done – let’s be quite clear, the European Union is all about the consumer. He doesn’t give anything for the manufacturer or the dealer. His only concern is protecting the consumer. And that is an issue for manufacturers and dealers.

How are we dealing with this? Well we’re looking at a whole variety of methods again in an attempt to ensure that while we recognise fully that things like bystanders for sprayers and so forth; use of land for wildlife preservation etc. But there’s a bottom line here and the bottom line is that you can spend a considerable amount of money and give up a great deal of land for supporting wildlife, but at the end of the day, you have to grow food. And we produce nearly 60% of our food in the UK at the moment. That’s a considerable amount. Much more than it was 100 years ago. But it’s not enough. And if we’re to double our yields in the next 30, 40 years, that’s a big challenge. And there’s a balance between what the consumer wants and what we can provide.

Equally the consumer we know, we did a survey just recently and we watched 200 people go to the milk counter on a Saturday morning in a major supermarket and not one single person looked at the price. And yet dairy farmers are struggling with prices to make them economic to produce milk and many of them are going out of business on a daily basis.

So it’s a balance between what the consumer wants, trying to give the consumer what he wants. They don’t always want straight cucumbers. They want things that go with it. And they want that choice. And the balance between when you use organic or whether you use pesticides and fertilisers in producing crops is another issue for consumers. What we’re seeing of course is that consumers are looking hard at where their products come from. And again, we’re doing everything we can to ensure that British products are properly labelled and properly presented as British products.

Anyway, I hope that’s helped you understand some of the issues facing agricultural engineering and if you want any further information please don’t hesitate to contact me or go our website www.aea.uk.com.