Written By Richard Boldan
In October last year I received an email from Agronomist and Arable Farmer magazine, inviting entries for the National Arable and Grassland awards 2026. I promptly deleted it, along with several follow up emails. However, as the entry deadline approached, I read one more fully and looked at the related website.
Driven by a combination of a desire to raise the profile of Edaphos, a feeling of “what’s the worst that could happen?” and naked ego, I submitted my entry for Agronomist of the Year. A few weeks later I was informed that I had made the list of finalists.
The awards ceremony was to be held as part of the inaugural Agronomy Exchange conference on 11th February at the Hilton Bankside hotel in London. That morning I caught the 0630 train from York, along with my clients, Richard and Kimmy Raper, who kindly wrote a letter of support for my entry. We were joined at the conference by Mike, Karen and Ben Harrington from Edaphos.
The conference brought together agronomists, researchers, and industry leaders to explore the technologies shaping the future of UK crop production. The event’s overarching theme, “Planting Seeds for the Future”, centred on digital innovation and its role in transforming arable farming advice, management, and resilience. It was chaired by Farmers Weekly editor Andrew Meredith with a keynote speech from Tom Allen-Stevens, founder of the British on Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN). Contributors included representatives from NIAB, AHDB, ADAS, Velcourt, The Farm Carbon Toolkit, Ceres, Barclays, Environmental Farmers Group and the UK Agri-tech Centre as well as leading farmers.
A key takeaway for me was that technology, including artificial intelligence, can be a very useful addition to the agronomist’s toolbox and not a replacement for us! The ability to collate and interpret the ever-increasing amount of data available to us will improve our decision making and advice. I have long said that farming is a mixture of art and science. Technology will improve the science and shift the balance, but I believe there will always be a place for human wisdom, experience and, above all, passion.
The awards ceremony was held at the close of the event. Unfortunately, I continued my tradition of being placed outside the top one in national awards. Naturally I was disappointed but allowed myself a modicum of pride at being a finalist. Congratulations to the winner, Chris Taylor as well as all the other category finalists and winners. Thank you to Richard and Kimmy Raper and Karen Harrington for helping with my entry and to my Edaphos colleagues for their support and good wishes.
