Simon Haley - Consultancy: fit for purpose?

Agricultural consultants provide professional farm management advisory services to farmers. What does the future consultant look like? How do we remain of value and not simply an enforced regulatory cost against squeezed enterprise margins and natural capital adaptation challenges? The answer lies in farm data, and in improving trust among our farmer clients in data sharing. I would like to explore aspects and outputs of drone use, farm digitisation, online mapping, and artificial intelligence. I would undertake a 5 day study tour to Ireland, an EU member country, visiting farms and professionals, facilitated through the Agricultural Consultants Association, to see how their advisory services anticipate a demand for new tech and trusted guidance from farms in how to collate, analyse, and utilise this data.