Aug 7, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
Farmers, growers and partners involved in the M&S Plan A: Farming for the Future programme share their experiences of change, the lessons they've learned and the early benefits they're seeing…
Sarah BlackwellHostMarkGuest
Clive ThomasGuest
Peter KennedyGuestDavid WebsterGuest
Robert MitchellGuest
Adrian WilcoxGuestTom StevensonGuestJames MaylidsGuest
Andrew FrancisGuestEdGuest
Ian RobertsonGuestWelsh Beef Farmer, M&S PathwayGuest
John SpenceGuestHarryGuest
Well, we've talked a lot about the man at the moment, so we're going to bring Ian in.
Grab a roll.
So what are you seeing, and obviously you work with other farmers as well, what are you seeing in terms of how understanding develops and translates actually into practice?
Very tricky question,
I think we've had some quite good fun doing these courses, and that's really one of the main things that it was about to start with.
And that biggest takeaway for me was that no one that we went on on this farm was doing a bad thing.
And everyone was doing some really, really good things, but things we could have done differently.
And the way we laid the course out, having different disciplines in the room, made a massive difference.
Rather than everyone talking about potato, you were talking about top fruit, potato, tender stem, etc.
folded we're not enjoying this and then by sort of 15-20 minutes everyone was gassing to each other having a bit of a laugh taking a look at a mark and then it was good so that was one of the biggest things the multidisciplinary thing and the fact that everyone was really keen to get engaged which makes my life at this side of the room so much easier because people wanted to ask questions wanted to say well actually I'm not sure I understand that and were very honest about what levels of understanding they had well I don't know who that was
I think we've all learned a lot from you from these courses and, you know, definitely encourage anyone that hasn't been on an NIE soil course to definitely go on one because they're really worthwhile.
Well, we've talked a lot about the man at the moment, so we're going to bring Ian in.
Grab a roll.
So what are you seeing, and obviously you work with other farmers as well, what are you seeing in terms of how understanding develops and translates actually into practice?
Very tricky question,
I think we've had some quite good fun doing these courses, and that's really one of the main things that it was about to start with.
And that biggest takeaway for me was that no one that we went on on this farm was doing a bad thing.
And everyone was doing some really, really good things, but things we could have done differently.
And the way we laid the course out, having different disciplines in the room, made a massive difference.
Rather than everyone talking about potato, you were talking about top fruit, potato, tender stem, etc.
folded we're not enjoying this and then by sort of 15-20 minutes everyone was gassing to each other having a bit of a laugh taking a look at a mark and then it was good so that was one of the biggest things the multidisciplinary thing and the fact that everyone was really keen to get engaged which makes my life at this side of the room so much easier because people wanted to ask questions wanted to say well actually I'm not sure I understand that and were very honest about what levels of understanding they had well I don't know who that was
I think we've all learned a lot from you from these courses and, you know, definitely encourage anyone that hasn't been on an NIE soil course to definitely go on one because they're really worthwhile.
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