New Bitesize Guides from Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust and RASE

As part of a new series, two Bitesize Guide publications have been released by a partnership between the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust and the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE).

‘Leadership and developing your career in agriculture’ and ‘Communicating with people outside of agriculture’ highlight key findings, discussions and ideas from the extensive library of Nuffield Farming scholar reports.

The Bitesize Guide on ‘Leadership and developing your career in agriculture’ provides ideas and inspiration for anyone seeking to develop their career, whether at the start of the journey or leading a team.

‘Communicating with people outside of agriculture’ features a range of ideas to help anyone in agriculture communicate better with customers, consumers, critics and fans.

Each Bitesize Guide features short, thought-provoking extracts, including practical advice, case studies, talking points and action plans for future development. QR codes and links allow readers to access the relevant Nuffield Farming report for more information.

Nuffield Scholar and RASE Technical Director Stephen Briggs said: “These are both key topics for agriculture, and we are delighted to be partnering with Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust to share the valuable learnings from Nuffield scholars more widely with farmers, foresters and agri-professionals.

“Effective leadership is key in all businesses. In an industry dominated by small to medium, often family-based businesses, developing effective leadership skills can be challenging. The Bitesize Guide on leadership features practical advice on doing this, as well as useful links for further development. “Communicating with people outside of the agricultural sector can often feel like a difficult task. Being better able to do this helps build bridges, trust and knowledge for both sides of the discussion, and a better quality of discussion.”

These two new publications add to an existing portfolio of Bitesize Guides which also contains

‘Young people and succession planning - overcoming barriers for next generation farmers’

‘Teams - Recruiting and retaining great people in farming and agribusiness’

‘Nutrients & water - Turning potential pollution into resource efficiencies’

All Bitesize Guides can be downloaded from https://www.rase.org.uk/reports/

Each year, up to 25 people aged 25-45 are selected as scholars and sponsored by the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust to travel, research and report on subjects they are passionate about and which contribute to advancing farming, food, horticulture, forestry and ancillary industries. Scholars present their findings at the annual Nuffield Farming conference, held this week in Aberdeen, and publish a report on their travels and recommendations, available on the Nuffield Farming website.

Rupert Alers-Hankey, Director of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust said: “These studies bring new thinking, technology or management approaches from across the globe to the UK. “However, it has been a real challenge to extend findings from Nuffield Farming scholars widely into the agri sector. Few farmers are aware of the huge knowledge base that can be accessed via the Nuffield Farming library, and for those who are, finding the time to read large reports may be impractical.

“These new Bitesize Guides – building on the three pilot guides published last year – will make accessing that highly valuable, practical information much more straightforward,” he added. “We are delighted to be partnering with RASE and IFA on this project.”

The Bitesize Guide series is supported by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust, Central Region Farmers Trust and Gloucestershire Agricultural House Foundation.