How collaboration is shaping the future of farming

Building trust and shared purpose

While collaboration can take many forms, from discussion groups and farm clusters to research projects and machinery sharing, its success depends on trust, openness and a willingness to learn from others.

For Chris Berry, collaboration has transformed the way he farms. Reflecting on his involvement with discussion groups, he described the impact of farmers sharing experiences, challenges and business performance openly.

“Really open-minded people that came together and shared everything. Finances on the table, challenges that are happening on farm, champion the neighbours and really getting together.”

He believes meaningful collaboration starts with having a clear purpose. Whether it is improving profitability, solving technical challenges or simply creating opportunities to connect with others, farmers need a reason to invest their time.

“When farmers get together, there needs to be a meaningful reason…. because we're all busy people. That purpose could be a sense of belonging, getting off farm…… it could be an income driven thing, it could be just a knowledge transfer thing, but there has to be a core reason why you are gathering together.”

The value of farmer groups

Mel Bradley highlighted the value of place-based groups such as the Kenn Valley Cluster Group, where neighbouring farms work together despite having different enterprises and objectives. While there may not always be one common goal, she believes the social side of farming groups is often underestimated.

“The social cohesion is, I think, underrated and overlooked. And so much of farming is quite isolated. And I think that’s what keeps it [Kenn Valley] together.”

Becky Willson echoed the importance of bringing people together, particularly when tackling new challenges around carbon, soil health and environmental management. She believes farmers are often more willing to try new approaches when they can learn from their peers and compare experiences.

“If you can compare to others, you can see where you're doing well, where you're not, but also you can then pull all of that together to show collectively the impact your farming is having across a county, across a location, and you're all feeling more of a collective responsibility rather than just being little Islands on your own.”

Bigger opportunities through collective action

This also reflects how collaboration can unlock opportunities far beyond individual farms. From landscape-scale environmental projects and catchment initiatives to farmer-led research and benchmarking groups, working collectively can help deliver outcomes difficult to achieve alone.

Looking ahead, there is optimism about the future. While farming faces significant challenges, the guests agreed collaboration offers a practical route to building stronger businesses, stronger communities and a more resilient industry.

As Becky concluded, agriculture has a powerful story to tell when farmers work together rather than in isolation. By sharing knowledge, asking questions and remaining curious, farmers can continue adapting with confidence and create opportunities for the future.

The panel’s top tips on collaboration

1.      Having the willingness to have an open mind to get involved and try new things. Moving out of your comfort zone and joining groups you wouldn't necessarily consider.

2.      Have a go – you won’t know unless you try. Find a group or network near you and just go along.

3.      Find a friend and start talking. Or look for an event where you have the time and space to have conversations with others already working in similar areas.

4.      Ask questions and be curious.

Listen to the full episode below - also available via Spotify and Apple podcasts.

About our guests

Mel Bradley MBE is a farming facilitator with more than 15 years of experience in bringing people together and building networks. She coordinates the regenerative farming event Rootstock event and facilitates the Kenn Valley Farm Cluster group, which she discussed in a previous episode of Farming Focus™. Listen here.

Chris Berry is an award-winning, third generation livestock farmer with 900 ewes and 60 suckler cows in the Kenn Valley on a mixture of permanent pasture and herbal leys. Chris discussed how he transformed his farming system on an earlier episode of Farming Focus™ - listen here. In 2025, he was named Farmers Weekly Grassland Farmer of the Year.  

Becky Willson is Business Development and Technical Director at Farm Carbon Toolkit. A Nuffield Scholar, Becky’s work centres on developing tools and resources to support farmers build sustainable businesses by having a focus on soil health. Becky previously appeared on Farming Focus™ talking about climate resilience. Listen here.