Future-proofing your farm through change

And now we head to our showstoppers, the three nuggets of information that we've hopefully gleaned from today's show to take away.

The first one, I think, is to make sure we're challenging our business.

Challenge your agronomist, Ian said, and our business needs to operate in a constantly evolving environment.

Today, we talked mainly about climate, but the political, economic and social situation is changing as well.

What was right for my business three or four years ago isn't necessarily still valid.

We need to ask the question of everything.

Is this right for my business? And if you find this difficult, can you involve a friend? Ian talked about joining a discussion group.

Maybe ask a specialist to give you a different perspective.

And remember that quote from Darwin, it's not the strongest or the most intelligent that survives, but it's the one that adapts to change most easily.

So number two, if you find bottlenecks, look at whether there's a different way of doing things and turn any drawbacks in your business into opportunities.

Have a go.

Do a trial.

Find out for yourself whether there's a more efficient and effective way of achieving the right outcome given the environment or the context that you're operating in.

Perhaps there's a cultivar that will respond better in your climate.

Is there a breed which might do better in your system? Is there a sire that might improve a particular facet of your stock? And finally, number three, review.

Don't sit on your laurels.

Once you've made changes and put them into effect, come back around, look at things again.

Weigh up the risks of changing.

What's the downside? What's the upside? It's especially important to revisit elements of your business where you've made a change to see whether they're actually heading in the right direction.

And remember that making lots of small marginal improvements can lead to a seismic shift

in the performance of an operation.