By A mindset closed to new business structures, limited collaboration and a lack of investment on infrastructure are stopping UK farming meet its potential.
"The context to this important research is that our farming sector has far-reaching opportunities, but it needs to adapt to profit from them.
"Underwriting the whole report is the recommendation that farm businesses need to adopt an openness and willingness to embrace change.
"It is likely that more transformation will happen in the UK farming industry in the next ten years than we have seen in the past 50, so the industry needs to be prepared to adopt new systems, structures and partner investors who understand agriculture.
"The report delivers some hard-hitting punches and - intentionally - it doesn't hold back in spelling out the progress needed."
That was the message as details of the showpiece Oxford Farming Conference research emerged today.
The 'Opportunity Agriculture' report will say that current UK farm structures have their strengths. But it will urge the industry to be more open to changes in land management and not be wedded to owning land to farm it.
It also challenges farm business operators to think more widely about sources of capital and to explore agreements like share farming or partnering external investors.
Report author, Ian Ashbridge from Bidwells, said farmers will need to seek alternatives to the tried and tested, and warns that further decoupling of farm ownership from farm operation was inevitable.
He added: "We are seeing investors from outside farming bringing in new sources of capital and creating opportunities for the most professional, well-equipped and entrepreneurial farmers as operators. These professional operators will challenge the accepted definition of "farmer" as the industry and, to a degree, society understands it.
"Farming has so few operational structures for the combination of land, labour, capital and enterprise. One of the things this research has identified is that there is a need for new and innovative structures - models which align interests more effectively, particularly in light of some of the major changes in farming likely to be seen in the next decade.
"For example, share farming, so successful in New Zealand and other countries, remains relatively untried here. Its adoption requires a major change in attitude from farming towards risk and reward, and sharing the whole value the business generates - even equity."
The report predicts that the future profitability of farming will necessitate inter-farm collaboration on infrastructure such as buildings, roads and water systems, in order that sufficient capacity can be achieved.
"Water security will be the key defining issue for food production in a decade's time - farmers need to prepare for this," said Mr Ashbridge.
On GM and tech…Farming must also be allowed to access new technologies that will improve yields of key food crops and not fall victim to the same 'Luddite attitudes as GM has'.
On talent…Farming must also invest in its people, says the report. "The UK risks exporting its talent both in the science community, but also in agricultural leadership and business management. These assets must be retained, and invested in, if a sustainably competitive future is to be reality," said Mr Ashbridge.
The full 'Opportunity Agriculture' report will be available to read when it is released tomorrow.
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