Episode 128
' MOST EXCITING TIME TO BE AN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEER' with Dr Mark Moore
Dr Mark Moore, the Director of Government Affairs for AGCO Corporation in Europe and President of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) shares his inspiring journey from a modest academic background to a key position with a global farm machinery corporation.
He discusses the critical role agricultural engineers play in addressing the challenges of feeding a growing global population, emphasizing the need for innovation and collaboration across the food production chain.
Mark's experiences, including overcoming a life-threatening illness and his extensive work in precision farming, highlight the importance of practical knowledge and adaptability in the industry.
Throughout the conversation, he underscores the necessity for engineers to work closely with farmers, policymakers, and various stakeholders to create effective solutions for sustainable agriculture which is the theme of the upcoming IAgrE Conference.
LINKS
Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE)
IAgrE 2024 Conference: 'What we want from Agricultural Engineers' 6 November
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Inside Agri-Turf is produced, edited and published by Chris Biddle chris.biddle@btinternet.com
Transcript
Hello, I'm Chris Biddle and welcome to Inside Agrita, featuring those lovely folk who are engaged at the heart of the.
Speaker B:Farm and grass machinery industry, known collectively.
Chris Biddle:As land based engineering.
Chris Biddle:And thank you for joining me.
Speaker B:Now, before I introduce today's guest who has a most fascinating story to tell, I'm pleased to tell you that I've got a new website, still with the same domain name, inside Agrita from Word.com, which has some important new features.
Speaker B:First, all the past episodes are much easier to access, but more importantly, you will now be able to rate and comment on each episode after it is published.
Speaker B:You'll also be able to contact me through the website with any feedback or suggestions for future topics.
Speaker B:Whilst on the homepage you can sign up for the Inside Agriturf newsletter, which provides information on current and scheduled episodes.
Speaker B:All the links to these pages are in this episode's show notes.
Speaker B:So without any further ado, let's get on with this terrific episode.
Speaker B:In my five years of talking to a range of people engaged in or connected to land based engineering, I've heard many inspiring stories of their journey into this industry and this episode is no exception.
Speaker B:In fact, I think it's one of the most extraordinary and it may indeed go a long way to answering that question.
Speaker B:Are agricultural engineers born or are they made?
Speaker B:It features someone who left school at 16 with one o level and that in metalwork, who just rediscovered the power of education, who faced a life threatening illness in his early twenties, but whose drive and tenacity has propelled him through the ranks, in a non military sense, of course, to a key international role with one of the biggest names in agricultural machinery.
Speaker B:My guest today is Doctor Mark Moore, the director government affairs for the AgCO Corporation in Europe and also the current president of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers.
Chris Biddle:Mark, a very warm welcome to inside Agriturf and thank you for joining me.
Chris Biddle:Let's start at the beginning, right back to your early days.
Chris Biddle:Did you come from a farming background?
Mark Moore:Yes and no.
Mark Moore:So my father was in car sales, but the rest of the family was in farming.
Mark Moore:So I grew up in north Essex in a little village called Styston, which I'm sure a lot of people have never heard of, but it was working on farms as a child and whatever.
Mark Moore:So yes and no, I think is probably the answer.
Chris Biddle:And when you were growing up, what was schooling like?
Chris Biddle:Were you a good pupil?
Chris Biddle:Were you interested in school?
Mark Moore:Yes.
Mark Moore:The practical side, yes.
Mark Moore:But the academic side, I guess you could say no.
Mark Moore:So I think most people regarded me as a sort of a practical student rather than an academic.
Mark Moore:My only real qualification from school was own level metalwork, believe.
Chris Biddle:Oh, congratulations.
Mark Moore:I walked out of school with O level metalwork.
Mark Moore:Those that remember O levels, as it were.
Chris Biddle:No, I will remember O levels, thank you very much.
Chris Biddle:If you weren't academic, what was your ambition when you were at school?
Chris Biddle:Did you have any ideas what you were going to do in later life?
Mark Moore:Yes, go back into agriculture.
Mark Moore:Having worked on farms as a child, I drove, actually, Massey Ferguson Tractus, from 16 years old, as it were.
Mark Moore:So the idea was to try and get back into farming somehow.
Mark Moore:And I left school at the first opportunity at 16, and got a job with, actually, a Massey Ferguson dealer called eastern tractors in Braintree as a fitter, so as an apprenticeship fitter.
Mark Moore:But unfortunately, that was in the early eighties and I don't know if you remember, it was not a very good economic situation and I was actually made redundant before I started.
Chris Biddle:That was a good first move into the job market.
Mark Moore:So, although my first job was in a dealership, we didn't really get going as such.
Mark Moore:And unfortunately, the redundancy happened the week before I was due to start.
Mark Moore:And this was a played out of school.
Mark Moore:I was left with a real dilemma as to what to do.
Mark Moore:And as I said, the economic situation wasn't good, unemployment was high, and so I decided to go back to school.
Mark Moore:So, having walked out with O level metalwork, I then went back to school and did a bit more academic qualifications and made up for lost time.
Chris Biddle:And where was that mark?
Mark Moore:That was in Braintree.
Mark Moore:So all up in north Essex, as it was?
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Mark Moore:So I actually walked out a year later with eight o levels.
Mark Moore:So I did make up for lost time.
Chris Biddle:And from there.
Mark Moore:From there I went to.
Mark Moore:Got a job as a land surveyor in London.
Mark Moore:I had a friend, Niffland and associates, and they were growing.
Mark Moore:They were doing a lot of survey work for Sainsbury's.
Mark Moore:At the time.
Mark Moore:Sainsbury's was growing as a brand, they were opening up stores and we did a lot of work for Sainsbury's.
Mark Moore:So I did a year at Iffland and associate as a trainee land surveyor.
Chris Biddle:But for someone with an interest in machinery, was that satisfying?
Mark Moore:No, not really.
Mark Moore:So I really left farming and I guess I was exploring different avenues at the time, but I missed farming.
Mark Moore:But I think the main problem was the commute to London that was getting on top of me.
Mark Moore:So working in London and commuting daily in and out was.
Mark Moore:Yeah, not something that I really aspired to do for the rest of my life, for sure.
Chris Biddle:How long did you stay in that job and what happened next?
Mark Moore:So I was in that job for a year and during that time I decided to go to Rykirkwood College to enter back into agricultural engineering.
Mark Moore:So Rykerwood College was one of the local tech colleges in Thames, Oxfordshire, where I enlisted for the ond the ordinary national diploma in agricultural engineering.
Mark Moore:And given the fact that I now had eight o levels under my belt, the staff there at the time pushed me into the analytical ondezenhe.
Mark Moore:So that's where I ended up.
Mark Moore:This was going back early eighties, 82, I think it was, that I started at Rykir.
Chris Biddle:Had you got the bug then for further education?
Mark Moore:Yes, I was learning about things that I was interested in, which I'm not sure it was the case at school, so I think that was the advantage that I had.
Mark Moore:I was generally interested in agricultural engineering and the farm machinery sector in particular.
Mark Moore:And yeah, I was learning an awful lot about engineering and tractors and combines and yeah, it was a good time.
Chris Biddle:What was it that piqued your interest in agricultural engineering particularly?
Chris Biddle:I know you'd had an interest in your younger days, but as you grew into it, did that interest and commitment to the industry to grow?
Mark Moore:Yes, I think my ambition levels have grown over time as well, to complement that.
Mark Moore:But I was always interested in working on the farms and the farm machinery aspect of farming really interested me.
Mark Moore:There was chances to go into farm management, as it were, to actually go farming as opposed to going into the sort of the machinery world.
Mark Moore:But I think I was leaning more towards the machinery at the time.
Mark Moore:And as I say, I think my ambition level was quite moderate, I guess you could say, at the time.
Mark Moore:But it's grown over.
Chris Biddle:Yeah.
Chris Biddle:And from Reichert Wood, Mark, from where then?
Mark Moore:Actually, I did four years at Reykit Wood.
Mark Moore:I did the ond and stayed on for the HND and then from there I went to Silso.
Mark Moore:I guess ambitions were growing.
Mark Moore:I applied for a job at John Deere in Langer, as on the service side after I completed my OMD, but I didn't get it.
Mark Moore:I got to the last two, but didn't get it for whatever reasons.
Mark Moore:But I think that sort of stimulated me to extend myself a bit more, which is why I then looked at the degree at Silso, the agricultural technology and management course, as it was.
Chris Biddle:Did John Deere like you?
Mark Moore:I hope so.
Mark Moore:I was very lucky to get to the last two, as I say again, unemployment was quite high, so there was a lot of candidates that applied for the position.
Mark Moore:So the fact that I got to the last two was quite an achievement in its own right, I think.
Chris Biddle:And so the specific course at Cilso, that was at Cilso and obviously part of Cranfield University?
Mark Moore:Yes, yeah.
Chris Biddle:What was the actual course that you took?
Chris Biddle:It was very much very high academic course.
Mark Moore:Yes.
Mark Moore:It was called agricultural technology management.
Mark Moore:So the ATM, as it was known as within the college, was a very broad course.
Mark Moore:So I was very conscious that I did a lot of engineering at Rycote Wooden, so doing a sort of a B engine, carrying on that engineering, I thought, would maybe restrict my thinking a bit.
Mark Moore:So I decided to broaden a bit more into this ATM course because it included aspects of not only engineering, but also of agriculture and biology and things like that.
Mark Moore:So, yeah, it was a bit more diverse, not just pure engineering as such.
Chris Biddle:And where were your ambition levels then?
Chris Biddle:Did you really have a goal in mind?
Mark Moore:Yes, to try and get back to one of the major manufacturers.
Mark Moore:So in my last year, it was an honours course, so we were all tasked with doing a project.
Mark Moore:And in my final year, I developed links to Massey Ferguson and I did something called a lost sales analysis.
Mark Moore:So it's basically interviewing dealers as to why farmers had bought a competitive brand from Amassi Ferguson.
Mark Moore:But I think the important thing about that was it enabled me to establish links to people within Massey Ferguson at the time, even though I was still a final year student.
Chris Biddle:And I guess as you went out into the dealer land, you increased your networking skills and ability.
Mark Moore:Yes, and the thing that I'm proud of is that I have a very practical background.
Mark Moore:I've worked on a lot of farms, even through my college years.
Mark Moore:I always worked on farms during the holiday periods, so obviously harvesting is the obvious one.
Mark Moore:But I've worked on farms all over UK, silaging in the Easter holidays and things like that.
Mark Moore:So, yeah, I've been very lucky.
Chris Biddle:And so did this lead to a permanent employment with Massey Ferguson?
Mark Moore:It did.
Mark Moore: So, in: Mark Moore:Actually, my first job was to demo mf combines.
Mark Moore:So this is sort of July.
Mark Moore:So I left Silso on the Friday, enjoying massive focus on the mandate in July, and they were just looking for demonstration drivers to go out and support the demonstration network on Monday.
Mark Moore:I think maybe one day later, I was asked to go over to Suffolk and resume control of a Massey Ferguson 34 combine at the time and start demonstrating, which put me in my element, because that's right.
Mark Moore:Back to my practical side.
Chris Biddle:I understand, Mark, that around this time you had something of a major health scare.
Chris Biddle:What happened?
Mark Moore:Actually, it was a couple of years earlier while I was at Silso.
Mark Moore:Halfway through my degree, I actually fell off my motorbike and broke my arm.
Mark Moore:And during a routine, I thought to put some plates in it and doing a routine chest x array, they discovered a mass in my chest and it turned out to be a tumor.
Mark Moore:And, yeah, this is halfway through my degree you need to be aware of.
Mark Moore:And they basically told me I had two years to live, so I was 24 at the time.
Chris Biddle:That focuses the mind, doesn't it?
Mark Moore:It certainly does, but I think when you're young and enthusiastic and full of energy, you don't.
Mark Moore:It doesn't really mean much.
Mark Moore:It sounds odd, but I think you just think.
Mark Moore:You're joking, aren't you?
Mark Moore:Here I am.
Mark Moore:I'm fit and healthy and very active.
Mark Moore:What are you talking about?
Mark Moore:But anyway, they.
Mark Moore:They insisted that they had to do an operation in order to get this tumour out, so I ended up being six weeks in the London hospital or the Royal London Hospital, as it's now.
Mark Moore:Now I'm having some quite major surgery.
Mark Moore:I got through it and, as I say, the most important thing is I'm still here to told the tale, as it were.
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Chris Biddle:And were the colleges understanding of your situation?
Mark Moore:Very obviously.
Mark Moore:Still at the time, I did negotiate with the hospital that they had to do this in a holiday break.
Mark Moore: tually the Easter holidays in: Mark Moore:So I didn't miss any studies at the time.
Mark Moore:But when I did get back to Silso, unfortunately, they discovered that the surgery wasn't that successful and I had to undergo a lot of radiological treatment.
Mark Moore:But that required me going down to Southampton General Hospital.
Mark Moore:Yeah, that really did disrupt, because I didn't have any choice then.
Mark Moore:But I have to say that the staff, Professor Dick Godwin, Simon Blackmore, all these people were very supportive of me at the time.
Chris Biddle:Excellent.
Chris Biddle: e AGCO takeover was, I think,: Chris Biddle:Was it on the cards in advance of that?
Chris Biddle:Was there sort of knowledge within Massey Ferguson?
Chris Biddle:And this might well take place?
Mark Moore:I think, like every huge company, there's rumors.
Mark Moore:Yes, there was hints of it.
Mark Moore:COd already been established through the acquisition of Massey Ferguson, North America and Massive Ferguson was owned by a corporation called Varity, the variety corporation at the time, and I think Variety were looking to diversify that they owned another company called Kelsey Hayes, which was into automotive projects, anti locking braking systems and things like that.
Mark Moore:So the impression that we got as employees that varity were more interested in developing that side of the business rather than farming.
Mark Moore:Yeah, so I think that's probably how it all came about, as it were.
Chris Biddle:And, of course, shortly after the formation of AgCO, there was a dreadful aircraft crash, of course, in England, which claimed the life of a couple of Agco executives, and that must have been a real sort of shaker at that time.
Mark Moore:It was a real shock.
Mark Moore:There was four founders of Agco, two of which were on that aircraft that crashed at Birmingham airport.
Mark Moore:So we lost 50% of the founders of AgcO at the time.
Mark Moore:So, yeah, it was quite a sad.
Chris Biddle:Time within the company, and I think that one of the founders, the chairman, Robert Ratcliffe, then took a back seat, and the Martin Richenhagen, who cut his teeth at class, to a certain extent, joined and I had the pleasure of meeting him several times.
Chris Biddle:A very forceful character.
Chris Biddle:Was he very much a driving force in your early days?
Mark Moore:Yeah, he was very good for the company, in my opinion.
Mark Moore:We were still growing through acquisition, so we were still buying our companies and I think Martin was what AG needed.
Mark Moore:Bob had obviously done a good job with getting the thing up and running and bought various brands, but I think Martin continued that strategy to put us in a very strong position, which we were at today.
Chris Biddle:Yeah, and of course, in that period, we're talking about the third and fourth age of agriculture currently, but precision agriculture was starting to emerge as a real option for farming techniques, wasn't it?
Chris Biddle:And were you involved in that?
Mark Moore: n I joined Massey Ferguson in: Mark Moore:That particular combine had a yield meter on it, didn't have gps, but it had this yield meter and it fascinated me, just driving this combine up and down the field and seeing the variations on the yield meter.
Mark Moore:And that really got me interested in sort of the yield map inside which was in the pipeline.
Mark Moore:And during that year, Massey Ferdson gave me responsibility for the sort of the yield mapping system and from that they supported me in a PhD.
Mark Moore:So I think I'm right in saying that I'm the first person to ever got a PhD in precision farming as a combine driver?
Mark Moore:As a combine driver, yes, but these were very early days, as you can imagine.
Chris Biddle:And did that fascinate you?
Mark Moore:Yeah, I've always been interested in technology, but also the application of technology.
Mark Moore:So getting some value from it again, using my agricultural knowledge and some of the experience that I gained on farms, I was able to translate some of the data and the information that we're getting into, some actions that we were trying to do on farms.
Mark Moore:And that also formed part of my PhD.
Mark Moore:So it wasn't just a technical PhD, it was trying to look at the application of the technology as well.
Mark Moore:So I worked very closely with the farm staff at Shuttleworth, which was aligned with Siltso College.
Mark Moore:So the two organizations are the same organization in some respects.
Mark Moore:So the staff at Shuttleworth, they gave me some of their fields to go out and start doing precision farming on.
Mark Moore:I mean, we're going back to the early nineties here.
Chris Biddle:Yes, yes.
Chris Biddle:And are you pleased with the progress that precision farming has made within these last, what is it, 30 years or so?
Chris Biddle:Still a long way to go.
Mark Moore:Still a long way to go, yeah.
Mark Moore:So the short answer is no.
Mark Moore:So I think given the contribution precision farming can make to food security, sustainable farming, I think we can do an awful lot more.
Mark Moore:Believe me, we're not there yet for sure.
Mark Moore:So when you and my evidence for that is the adoption rates.
Mark Moore:So when you look at the adoption rates of the technology, then I think they're relatively slow within farming.
Mark Moore:And I'm not blaming farmers penny structure the imagination, as I say, there are a number of reasons behind that, but, yeah, we can do more for sure.
Chris Biddle:Yeah.
Chris Biddle:And so this engaged you through the late nineties into the two thousands, did it?
Chris Biddle:What were your roles then?
Mark Moore:So, as I say, I started off in Massey Ferguson as a training instructor.
Mark Moore:So I did that for four years, which is where I started my PhD in precision farming.
Mark Moore:From that I stayed within the Massey Ferguson network, but within product development.
Mark Moore:So after becoming in this training instructor and PhD student, then I was pushed into, or asked to go into product development to manage that sort of the precision farming system or the field star system as it was now known, within the massive phase network.
Mark Moore:So it was about trying to define requirements, understand what products and services farmers required, what technology we could develop.
Mark Moore:So working very closely with the marketing teams, the sales teams and engineering and trying to deliver the things that farmers were telling you that they needed to happen in order for them to be successful.
Mark Moore:So that was a very interesting role.
Chris Biddle:Yeah, I bet.
Chris Biddle:And was this all based in the UK?
Chris Biddle:Did you have opportunity, as we came into new millennium to travel very much or work abroad?
Mark Moore:Yes, so I've been so lucky in my career.
Mark Moore:I've worked and farmed all over the world.
Mark Moore:So, as I said, I'm very keen on the application of the technology.
Mark Moore:So I'm very eager to talk to farmers, understand the things that they're trying to do.
Mark Moore:And I've managed to do that all over the world, including the weird places like Russia and Australia, New Zealand, Japan.
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Mark Moore:North America, South America.
Mark Moore:I've been so lucky, it's unbelievable.
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Chris Biddle:And I understand you then had a secondment in Africa.
Mark Moore:Yes, I guess the technology, in some respect, reached this plateau where.
Mark Moore:And I had an opportunity to go to Africa and start a project called the Future Farm.
Mark Moore:So this is more about the application of technology and mechanization than perhaps developing the engineering aspect of it.
Mark Moore:And the future farm in Africa, which is just north of Lusaka, in Zambia, we assembled a group of stakeholders companies, Bayer crop science, for example, Seedco, Yara fertilizers.
Mark Moore:And they will work together on this farm to try and figure out how we can use technology, agronomic practices and knowledge to do things better.
Mark Moore:So it was a real team effort, and that really opened up my knowledge about the power of working together.
Mark Moore:If you can work together, then you can make an awful lot more progress than working in silos.
Mark Moore:So that was a really important lesson for me to.
Chris Biddle:And how long did that last, Mark, how long were you out there?
Mark Moore:I was out there for seven years.
Chris Biddle:Were you?
Mark Moore:Yes.
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Mark Moore:And I know I talked about Zambia, which is where the farm was located, but actually I was lucky enough to work all over Africa, so.
Mark Moore:Yeah.
Chris Biddle:And what was your main takeaway from those seven years in Africa, specifically about.
Mark Moore:Africa, is that Africa has an enormous potential to feed the world.
Mark Moore:So the land.
Mark Moore:A lot of people say that Africa hasn't got a lot of moisture.
Mark Moore:Sub saharan Africa has.
Mark Moore:I think the potential is there, and the people are very enthusiastic, they're eager for knowledge.
Mark Moore:So when you go to visit farmers and rural areas, you always tend to get a very welcoming when you appear.
Mark Moore:Yeah, it's a nice area to be in.
Chris Biddle:Excellent.
Chris Biddle:And now, if we come up to date, Mark, you are the director of government affairs for Agco Corporation Europe, which is not bad for a guy with one o level in metalwork.
Mark Moore:No, it's not, is it?
Mark Moore:Eh?
Mark Moore:No.
Chris Biddle:A very grand title.
Chris Biddle:What's your responsibilities within your current role?
Mark Moore:So I think I've gained, through my career as an agricultural engineer, I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience and visited an awful lot of places.
Mark Moore:And I think what ICO wanted to do is to use that knowledge and skills to try and figure out if there's anything we can do to influence policymakers.
Mark Moore:The role is really trying to work between our senior staff and some of the policymakers.
Mark Moore:And one of the ways we do that is through trade association.
Mark Moore:So I work very closely with the European Trade association court Seema, which is based in Brussels.
Mark Moore:And what we try and do as an industry then is formulate position statements, things that we want to see happen.
Mark Moore:And part of my role is then to try and convince the policymakers that this is something that they should be listening to and hopefully adopt and do to help things move forward, as it were.
Mark Moore:So that's what it is in a nutshell.
Chris Biddle:And is it a political role at all?
Mark Moore:It is, because obviously we're working with policymakers a lot of the time.
Mark Moore:There's two ways we can do this, is, is to try and understand the things that the policymakers are doing regarding regulations or directives around the things that impact AGcO's business.
Mark Moore:So emissions is a good example.
Mark Moore:So we all know that diesel emissions, that the regulations are getting tighter, and so that's the sort of thing that we deal with there.
Mark Moore:But the other more exciting aspect is looking at farming, because there's an awful lot of regulations around farming.
Mark Moore:Is there anything that we can do to help farmers implement the various regulations and such?
Mark Moore:So it's quite a diverse role in that respect.
Chris Biddle:And does it vary within Europe, depending what governments are in power at the time, what parties are in power, how ambitious you can be in your plans?
Mark Moore:Yes, the political framework, particularly in Europe, is quite complex.
Mark Moore:So if you have the Brussels and the EU Commission, which is what we tend to work with more often than not because they're the central organization, they're the guys that sort of set the framework for all the other member states to work within.
Mark Moore:But it's up to the member states to then take the framework that's been created in Brussels and figure out how they're going to implement it, which is why you get this diversification.
Mark Moore:And agriculture, I think, is one of the more complex because you can imagine farming in Malta is completely different to farming in Finland.
Mark Moore:So you need that ability to try and adapt the framework that comes out of Brussels to meet the local requirements.
Chris Biddle:And you referenced the importance of trade associations, and you were elected as president for this current term of the institution of agricultural Engineers.
Chris Biddle:That's I agri, what do you see your role as president?
Chris Biddle:And indeed, what is the role of IAgRI itself?
Mark Moore:The role of the institution of agricultural Engineers is to try and promote professional qualifications of agricultural engineers.
Mark Moore:We try and promote some knowledge transfer.
Mark Moore:So there's a various series of meetings.
Mark Moore:We got our annual conference coming up on the 6 November at Rothamsted and it's really trying to promote the network of agricultural engineers and establish ourselves with some sort of qualifications and recognition that we can get through some CNG type initiatives and such.
Chris Biddle:So, yes, yeah, and if we look at the role of agricultural engineers and engineering from a fairly non academic student school days in Essex through to where you are now, what lessons have you learnt?
Chris Biddle:We've only got 40 minutes.
Chris Biddle:What lessons have you learned on your journey from those school days to today?
Chris Biddle:Is there a sort of key element that actually sums up the whole thing?
Chris Biddle:Mark?
Mark Moore:Yes.
Mark Moore:Be prepared to adapt, so be flexible, so don't go out there with any preconceived ideas.
Mark Moore:Look, learn, listen and get things formulated in your mind as to how we can overcome some of the challenges, but do it in a dynamic way.
Mark Moore:So, as I say, don't shut the door on anything.
Mark Moore:There's no such thing as a bad idea, just that some are better than others.
Mark Moore:So explore all the various opportunities that you got.
Mark Moore:So, yeah, be flexible, be prepared to adapt, be prepared to listen and try and understand what the challenges are, not just from your perspective, but from others as well.
Chris Biddle:Indeed.
Chris Biddle:And if I were to ask you, what role do agricultural engineers.
Chris Biddle:We all talk about feeding the world, and feeding the world encompasses a lot of disciplines, of course.
Chris Biddle:What role do agricultural engineers play in that whole process of feeding a growing population?
Mark Moore:We are critical.
Mark Moore:So I think this is a personal opinion, but I think farming in general, which obviously agricultural engineering is linked to, is underrated, undervalued.
Mark Moore:I've never had a time where I've not walked into a shop and there's been never been food on the shelf.
Mark Moore:So every time I've walked into a shop, not only food, but a wide choice of food as well.
Mark Moore:And I think expectations are there.
Mark Moore:So consumers, when they walk into a shop, they expect food to be there.
Mark Moore:My parents grew up in the second world war and they experience rationing.
Mark Moore:So they've, I think, a bit more appreciative of farming than perhaps we are today, my generation, because of that.
Mark Moore:So they experience rationing, food shortages and things like that.
Mark Moore:I'm not saying they went hungry, but they haven't got the sort of the stability or the free choice that we enjoy today.
Mark Moore:So I think we need to try and get back to the point where we appreciate farmers more and more.
Mark Moore:And I think agricultural engineering can play an important part, particularly around this sustainability challenge.
Mark Moore:Farming and agriculture not only emits carbon emissions and other things, but it also has the ability to absorb as well.
Mark Moore:So we know we can store a lot of carbon in soil.
Mark Moore:There's not many other industries that can do that.
Mark Moore:And I think agriculture, engineering are then you sort of the overarching profession that links all these bits together.
Mark Moore:One thing that I've observed, when we are in discussions in Brussels, for example, and you've got various stakeholders around the table, policymakers, other people within the food chain, inevitably they all end up looking to us as engineers for solutions.
Mark Moore:So the agronomists, for example, or the food retailer, the policymaker, the fertilizer man, they all look at us for the sort of the technology or the engineering solutions.
Mark Moore:So we're really the glue that sort of holds all this together in some respects.
Mark Moore:And I think the opportunity for us is to think about the way we can build systems.
Mark Moore:So I think the terms that I like to think about are vertical versus horizontal integration.
Mark Moore:So I think as a sector, as a machinery sector, we're pretty good at the vertical stuff.
Mark Moore:So we all collaborate on PTO charts, three point linkages, there's some electronic standards that are emerging and things like that.
Mark Moore:So we're really good at talking amongst ourselves.
Mark Moore:What we're not necessarily good at is talking in this horizontal environment where we reaching out to food retailers and trying to understand their challenges and data standards or whatever it might be, and what we can do to work together.
Mark Moore:So I think that's the opportunity here.
Mark Moore:But there's only one group that's going to do this, and that's engineers.
Mark Moore:We are ultimately going to have to do the things that people want to do to solve the challenges that we all face.
Chris Biddle: ccasion back in, I think, was: Chris Biddle:And I think agricultural engineering was almost completely ignored until the institution of agricultural engineers jumped up and down very vocally and there was various changes and amendments and such.
Chris Biddle:Do you remember that time?
Mark Moore:I do, and I was involved in the amendment that went to the foresight report.
Mark Moore:But it's hard work getting our voice heard in a lot of these discussions.
Mark Moore:The UK has the national food strategy document that was done by Dimbleby a couple of years ago, and it has some really good conclusions.
Mark Moore:But the point is, there's lots of talk about technology and innovation, but no talk of engineering.
Mark Moore:And it's almost as if the assumption is there that this stuff is going to occur.
Mark Moore:So you can put it in a report, and because it's in a report, it'll happen.
Mark Moore:It won't happen unless the engineering community get behind it.
Mark Moore:I think there's a role there to work with people, to come up with strategies that enable us to do some of the things that the policymakers and others want to do, because I think their aspirations are really good.
Mark Moore:You can't disagree with what they're trying to do.
Mark Moore:I think everybody understands that food security, climate change are some of the huge challenges that we all have to face.
Mark Moore:But ultimately we have to do something.
Mark Moore:We got to figure out how we can work together to overcome these challenges.
Mark Moore:And engineering is going to be a central part of that challenge.
Mark Moore:Overcoming those challenges.
Chris Biddle:You talked earlier about the rate of adoption.
Chris Biddle:There's some very bright technology, sophisticated technology going into machinery these days.
Chris Biddle:What do farmers want?
Chris Biddle:Do they understand the new technology?
Chris Biddle:Do they make best use of it?
Chris Biddle:Or they're not concerned?
Chris Biddle:All they want it to do is work.
Mark Moore:There's.
Mark Moore:So 35 years ago, technology was more of an interest, I think, probably than anything else.
Mark Moore:And in some respects, I think farmers regard it as a bit of a gimmick.
Mark Moore:But today that's changed.
Mark Moore:So farmers need technology.
Mark Moore:They understand they need technology, and they see technology as part of their business.
Mark Moore:So they always use iPhones or iPads, for example.
Mark Moore:So I think a lot of consumer electronics has driven that sort of adoption as well.
Mark Moore:So the expectations are there.
Mark Moore:What farmers want is simple technology, and that's where we've got to get better.
Mark Moore:I think as both with this vertical and horizontal integration that I talked about, farmers are not good systems integrators.
Mark Moore:What they are good at is farming.
Mark Moore:So a farmer wants to buy a piece of technology, he wants to push a button and go farming.
Mark Moore:He doesn't want to push the button and then have to call somebody because the data won't go from a to b.
Mark Moore:So we've got to get much better trying to build systems rather than delivering individual products.
Chris Biddle:So they're not really worried about all the clever stuff that goes on under the bonnet or under the cowling.
Chris Biddle:All they want is one single action that they can rely on.
Mark Moore:Exactly.
Mark Moore:And if it doesn't work, the farmer will just flick the switch off and revert back to what he did previously because they won't.
Mark Moore:We all know that farming, farmers have a lot of time, a lot of pressure, time pressures to get the job done.
Mark Moore:This harvest has not been a good harvest weather wise.
Mark Moore:So you can't spend 3 hours in the corner of a field trying to figure out how to get data from a to b, you got to jump in your combine and go combine it.
Mark Moore:So we have to get better at that.
Mark Moore:And I think we're getting there, don't get me wrong, there's the agricultural electronics foundation.
Mark Moore:So the vertical integration element I think is coming along.
Mark Moore:But I'm also aware that a lot of people farmers work with agronomists and food retailers, policymakers influence what farmers can do.
Mark Moore:I think there's a role there for us as engineers to try and smooth out some of those bumps and blips as well.
Mark Moore:Data is going to be at the center of this a lot of the time, I fear, because farmers are going to have to pass data to various organisations in order to make decisions, better decisions or get the subsidies or whatever it might be.
Chris Biddle:I think what you're saying, and you referenced the I agree.
Chris Biddle:Upcoming, I agree just now and I will put a link to the details in the show notes to this podcast takes place on the 6 November Rotham said.
Chris Biddle:And looking down the list of speakers, I think that horizontal aspect of everything you're talking about, because you've got speakers from the food and drink federation, you've got agronomists, you've got the head of CIMA, your trade association, livestock and a farmer, obviously key to the most important person, and indeed the senior agricultural manager for Waitrose Farms.
Chris Biddle:So rich you are spreading out across the agricultural sector quite widely, aren't you?
Mark Moore:I think we have to, and I think this is an attempt to try and get the membership involved, I think with justification.
Mark Moore:We complain that we don't get the recognition that we want.
Mark Moore:So this is an attempt to try and spread the word that we want to be here to help and listen and be part of the solution, but above all to contribute.
Mark Moore:So the speakers are going to come to us and hopefully they're going to sort of stake their requirements and get us thinking about how we can try and join all these things together on behalf of the farmer.
Mark Moore:So the farmer does end up with a system and not something that he has to call somebody and try and figure out how it can work.
Mark Moore:Let's work together to make it simple.
Chris Biddle:So it really will be a window on the wider world of food production and so on.
Chris Biddle:So really, from food to farm to fork, really?
Mark Moore:Yes.
Mark Moore:And I think, as I said earlier, I think engineering touches every part of the food production system, but we can't sit in our silos anymore.
Mark Moore:We got to figure out how we can talk to one another and understand the impact of my silo on the bit before and a bit after, and how we can smooth out those bumps and blips.
Mark Moore:So when it does end up on a farm, that it does actually work.
Mark Moore:So this is what we're trying to achieve, and I think we need to manage expectations.
Mark Moore:We're not going to solve all the issues in one afternoon at Rothamsted.
Mark Moore:But what I want to do is to get people thinking a bit more about systems and understanding some of the challenges within the food chain that we need to try and think about.
Mark Moore:Because, as I said, ultimately, we are the engineering community that's going to have to try and solve some of these issues.
Mark Moore:There's so much opportunity.
Mark Moore:So I get very passionate about this.
Mark Moore:There is so much opportunity here for agriculture, engineering, but we can't keep doing things for the next 30 years that we've done for the last 30 years.
Mark Moore:We have to change, we have to be more open and inclusive.
Mark Moore:We need to be more systems orientated.
Mark Moore:So, yeah, so I don't think there's ever been a more exciting time to be an agricultural engineer, given the challenges that we face and the fact that a lot of people in the food chain are looking to us to help create the solutions to get us there.
Chris Biddle:There's never been a more exciting time to be an agricultural engineer.
Chris Biddle:That's a really nice sort of sum up, mark, and I really do thank you for a fascinating trawl through your career and agriculture and engineering in general.
Chris Biddle:And lastly, a lot of people are engaged with Jeremy Clarkson as he makes a complete hash sometimes of farming, but it gains public opinion, public attention, and whether he's getting his Lamborghini tractor stuck somewhere.
Chris Biddle:Do you think he's a hero or hindrance to the appreciation of farming to the general public, who may think that their chicken comes in packages anyway and nothing to do with livestock?
Mark Moore:I think he's a hero to the general public, I would say.
Mark Moore:And the reason for that is because he's putting farming on the agenda, is creating awareness, and I think we need more of that awareness within the consumer and such like Doctor Mark Moore.
Chris Biddle:I really enjoyed this conversation and we've ranged very quickly through a very impressive career.
Chris Biddle:And congratulations on that and your recent appointment.
Chris Biddle:So, can I thank you once again for joining me.
Mark Moore:No trouble, Chris.
Mark Moore:And as I say, pleased to discuss.
Mark Moore:As I say, I don't got all the answers, but I'm willing to try and talk to people to get some.
Chris Biddle:Excellent.
Chris Biddle:Thank you.
Speaker B:There is nothing more that I can add to mark Moore's account of his journey.
Chris Biddle:For it proves once again that agricultural.
Speaker B:Engineers are a massively resourceful and talented bunch who are the glue to unlocking so many of the challenges of feeding the world world today.
Speaker B:I'm Chris Biddle.
Speaker B:Thank you for joining me for this episode of Inside Agritaf.
