“Diamonds in a Paper Crown” at the OFC 2026

“There are a lot of industry experts – including people in this room who can make this happen. Please. Make it happen.”

Such were the closing words from Baroness Minette Batters, following her talk at the Niab-hosted session at the Oxford Farming Conference 2026.

It was standing-room only as Baroness Batters gave a whistle-stop overview of her highly anticipated Farm Profitability Review (FPR) which was published just before Christmas.

The “diamonds on the crown” quote illustrated the pockets of excellence and inspiration across the industry, which sit within a context of fragmentation, heterogeneity and lack of a long-term farming plan for the UK.

Re-set and Re-engage

Central to the Review is the call for a reset for the economic model of farming and agriculture, and the role of other Government departments in addition to Defra to pull their respective levers to support the industry. This would include the Department for Business and Trade (among others) to help support and energise the business of farming, our exports and placing on an international stage, including farmers attending trade missions.

To try and summarise the key points in the FPR would be to do it a disservice, (you can read the entire report here) but the key principles include:

• Grow the British brand at home and abroad through a national farm partnership.
• Increase farm incomes from nature and environmental markets, supported by mandatory TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) reporting.
• Raise productivity through skills development, improved advice, research, innovation, and standardised metrics.
• Embed the “Active Farmer” principle, which links food security and resilience to future farming schemes to ensure funding goes only to those actively farming the land.
• Ensure fairness and transparency across supply chains to rebalance power between farmers, processors, and retailers.
• Provide financial certainty via planning reforms and improved access to on-farm investment.

Celebrating the Sectors

Recognising that “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to supporting the complex, heterogeneous mix of industries across the sub sectors of farming and agriculture, the FPR calls for sector missions. These are based around real time market analysis and intelligence, matching supply and demand more effectively to enable the industry to meet market needs and opportunities in retail, out-of-home eating, government procurement and exports.

It is clear Baroness Batters has been impressed by the TEAGASC model in Ireland, where research, advice and training are integrated in one organisation. The parallels in England and Wales would mean closer working between TIAH (the Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture, the UK Agri-tech Centre and the AHDB). Time will tell as to whether there is appetite and ambition to follow that model.

“Don’t ask – we won’t get”

With more of the national budget being directed towards defence and the NHS, there will be less for agriculture and horticulture. So, the FPR argues, yet more “asks” of government (of which 400 emerged during the review process) are unlikely to gain traction. And the critical importance of minimising wasted effort and increasing the targeted efficiency of government spend has never been more stark.

Finally, tribute was paid to the small Defra team who had supported the work of the FPR. An impressive and rapid upskilling of a relatively inexperienced (at least about farming) team demonstrated that you don’t need to be a farmer to become expert in farming.

So finally the report is out. Now the real work begins.