Firm friends Robert Neill and John MacInnes join Sarah Stephen to Blether Together about the joys and pressures of their working lives, whether running AgriScot, Robert’s newer role as NFUS Vice President, or on their family farms in Kelso and Iona.

Both men share how they’re helping smooth the path into farming for the next generation -recognising when to step back, give younger voices room to grow, and trust them to make their own mark on the business.

There’s also chat about how island life isn’t necessarily isolated. On Iona, John has a close community, some keen fellow golfers, and a steady stream of passing tourists to talk with (and to skive from shearing, says Robert!).

Both men agree that having interests outside the farm, whether it’s golf, community work, or a project that’s just for you, plays a big role in keeping well and maintaining perspective.

Robert also reflects on how wellbeing can come from being hands-on and helping others.

Whether that’s getting practical in the workshop or pitching in to find solutions to people’s problems, giving your time and support can make a real difference. One of the Five Ways to Wellbeing is Give, and it’s something Robert and John live by, through mentoring, volunteering, and contributing to the wider farming community.

Join us live at AgriScot

We’ll be recording anepisode of Blether Together live at AgriScot on Tuesday 19 November. Come along to the Seminar Room Two at 9.00am to be part of the conversation, or catch the Farmstrong Scotland team as we make our way around the show.

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Farmstrong Scotland helps farmers, crofters and their families cope with the ups and downs of rural life by sharing practical ways to look after themselves and the people around them. It’s a peer-to-peer programme, shaped by scientific insight and real-life stories, so together we can share, learn and support each other’s wellbeing.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Help Us Build Better Wellbeing – Share Your Voice in the Farmstrong Scotland Survey

============ The Farmstrong Scotland Annual Survey is now open. This survey shapes everything Farmstrong does. By taking part, you’re helping us understand what matters most to farmers and crofters right now, and makes sure we continue to deliver support that’s relevant, practical and truly useful for our community. It only takes a few minutes, but it makes a huge difference. Please fill in the survey at this link: https://www.farmstrongscotland.org.uk/news-events/help-us-build-better-wellbeing-share-your-voice-in-the-farmstrong-scotland-survey

Join us live at AgriScot 2025

We’ll be recording anepisode of Blether Together live at AgriScot on Tuesday 19 November. Come along to the Seminar Room Two at 9.00am to be part of the conversation, or catch the Farmstrong Scotland team as we make our way around the show.

Hello, welcome to Blether Together from Farm Strong Scotland.

I'm Sarah Stephen.

We've two guests this time, both, well, Kent in Scottish farming and crofting circles.

My name is Robert Neil.

I farm down here in the Scottish Borders near Kelso.

I am the current Vice president of the National Farmers Union and the past chairman of Agriscot.

My name's John McInnis.

I live out in the island of Iona off the southwest tip of Mull with my wife and two sons.

We've got a small beef and sheep farm here and also I'm the trade stands manager for Agriscot.

Both Robert and John are thinking hard about how to smooth the path into farming for the next generation.

There's a lot of youngsters really keen to get into farming at the moment.

At that age you're young and hungry and got tons of good ideas.

John lives on Iona.

You might think that is an isolating way of life, but that he says he's surrounded by a full and busy community.

John's not isolated.

I've heard of John clipping sheep at the side of the paddock of the park and he's got Americans standing looking over the fence and he's doing a running commentary while he's clipping the sheep.

That's only to get a break.

My eldest son started clipping so he'll be busy working away and I'll talk to tourists and straighten my back and then grab one when I'm ready.

And Robert talks about how he gets his well being from problem solving, fixing things and encouraging others.

Yeah, that is very satisfying if you can solve a problem for somebody, then they go away happy.

John.

Robert, I know you've got a busy couple of months ahead of you, so we'll get to that bit later on, but I normally start these chats with a round of rapid fire questions.

Are you up for answering them?

Yeah, definitely.

Go for it.

Right, okay John, what has been your favourite age so far?

17.

Robert, what item is worth spending more money on?

Infrastructure on farm.

If you could afford any car, which one would you drive?

The car I've got at the moment, a Land Rover Defender.

Okay, John, what is one thing you regret spending money on?

Ranger season tickets, definitely.

Okay, Robert, what are you most looking forward to?

The dark nights with the fire on.

Just relax a bit and slow down.

John, what never fails to make you laugh?

Old Still Game sketches.

You're a fan of Still Game?

Like a lot of people in Scotland.

I kept it late, but yeah.

Oh well, thank you very much, gentlemen.

It's just a bit of a fun, a bit of an icebreaker.

But I, I know you both know each other well, is that right?

Yeah, we've known each other for probably 11, 12 years since I started on the Agri Scott board.

And John is well being mental, physical, emotional, well being.

How much is that on your radar?

I think it is.

You're always thinking about it because you hear so much of it, especially like in the farming industry as well at the moment.

So you are aware of it, that you need to kind of take time out and look after yourself or do things that you enjoy as well and trying to get away from it.

It's difficult because actually both the jobs that I do, I mean there is stress in them some of the time, but working Agri Scott and the farm is just kind of a pleasure anyway, so I don't really enjoy that.

So you don't struggle too much at times, but you never know what's around the corner.

So you've always got to be thinking about it, haven't you?

Or aware of it.

And Robert, are you in tune with that side of things?

Yeah, definitely.

You know, agriculture, farming is a lonely job sometimes and a lot of people never get off farms or the only time they do get off is, you know, they go to the mart and sell livestock or come to Agri Scott go to a show, the Royal Highlands Show.

So people need to keep talking.

Farm Strong are doing a great job, Rsabi are doing a great job, you know, and there's lots of farm meetings throughout the winter.

You know, you've got discussion societies, knowledge exchange meetings, monitor meetings, all these things and all these shows.

So people need to get out there and you know, a problem shared is a problem off your shoulders.

I use Robert for that quite a bit.

Like if you have something like bad calving or something's going wrong in the winter, I'll quite often just phone Robert and have a chat about it and you find that he's had something else has died on him that morning.

He's.

He's having a bad time with it too.

So if you share it, then after you come off the phone it doesn't quite seem as bad, if that makes sense.

You know, you're going to, well, okay, it's happened to someone else, so it's not the end of the world kind of thing if you're left just with your own thoughts.

You beat yourself up a wee bit, don't you?

You think it's yourself that's done something wrong.

Well, I'm wondering also about Your sort of vacation.

John.

And a beautiful place to live.

Iona.

But also quite isolated.

I mean you can be isolated, of course, working on a farm in the mainland.

But do you feel that isolation?

John's not isolated.

Iona gets all these visitors and he relishes the challenge of speaking to all these tourists.

John can talk the hint.

Legs off a donkey.

I've heard of John clipping sheep at the side of the paddock of the park.

And he's got Americans standing looking over the fence and he's doing a running commentary while he's clipping the sheep.

And all that wool is sold in the shop in Iona.

So he's got a story to tell.

So he's probably one of the luckiest people out there.

And he is in a remote place.

But he's not remote with all these visitors that come to see.

Yeah.

John, you've got nothing to worry about.

So tell me about life on Iowa.

I've been.

It's absolutely stunning.

It is busy during the summer.

I'm not sure what it's like during the winter.

You get a lot of visitors.

It does seem to be a really thriving community.

Yeah, it does.

Robert's right there.

You're actually.

You're so busy over the course of summer.

The bit of the shearing.

Actually that's only to get a break because if you.

My eldest son started clipping.

So he'll be busy working away and I'll talk to tourists and straighten my back and then grab one when I'm ready.

But yeah, you do get.

It's quiet in the winter.

Most folk in the island live are in through tourist industries.

I mean that is a big driver in the economy.

But I'm one of the few that's actually just.

You work away through the winter as well.

You've got quite a lot on, you know, so you're not.

It's not dependent on the tourist season whether you're busy or not.

But you're right.

You can be you.

You could run the risk of just living over here on the west side island.

Just be on the farm all the time.

Not go to the village.

You could become quite isolated.

But that's where things like keep in touch with friends.

Agriscope work comes in handy as well for keeping you engaged with other people.

Martind that I work with at rural projects.

He'll quite often get these calls from me when I'm.

Maybe I don't have anything really to speak to him about.

But I'll phone up just for a chat just about football.

Wee bit of Work and that's quite good for you as well.

And then there is that we're one of the few islands, I think over the last few years where the population has grown.

There's quite a few folk moved back at the same time as us, had families.

So there's.

There is quite a strong community, a decent population over the winter as well.

How important is it to you to get off the island now and again?

Oh, that's vital.

Yeah.

Now you need to go away, see other things, see family and stuff that live in the mainland.

Wife's families from Dundees who would go over to see them when the boys were we and were growing up.

Go to the Borders, see how the other half lived in the land of milk and honey.

You're trying to make a living out of a rock out here.

And Roberts feel.

I think Roberts combined acreage is at roughly about the size of a Yona.

And we went.

The first time we down, we went a farm tour and honestly I must have only seen about two or three rocks, couple of clumps of rushes and that was it.

And they're probably gone now.

So it's.

Robert sorted them out, has he?

It's different land but no different.

Different vibe to your farm.

And the sort of wonderful nature of the west coast is.

That's what, you know, the.

You take the rough with the smooth, don't you?

You have that, that Robert, you know, life on a farm in Kelso.

Who do you speak to?

I mean, obviously John's at the end of the phone and he's mentions that you chat.

But do you have a go to or have a sort of pick up the phone and chat to anyone?

Yeah, obviously it's a busy farm.

We've got full time members of staff.

My two boys are involved in the farm, my wife's involved in the farm, although she works in the local showground at the moment.

My parents are still about, they're in Kelso, retired.

Dad always comes in and about and keeps the boys and myself on their toes and questions why you're doing that and you should be doing it this way.

And I've also got two brothers that I'm very close with and I'll speak to them most days as well.

As a family.

We're really, really close and get on well.

Brothers in the home farms 18 miles away, so don't see them every day but probably we'll have a chat with them most days if there's issues.

A lot of farmers just farm, don't do other things.

But You've had this role within Agri Scot and then you're moving on to this leadership role within NFU Scotland.

What's the driver there?

Why do you want to be involved in those agencies?

Well, one is it's history repeating itself.

When I was in my 20s, my dad took a chairmanship job of a local auction company and was off the farm four days a week, probably, and he said that the boys will run the business and get on with it and it's about handing over to the next generation.

So my two boys, Andrew and Harry, are 26 and 23, and it's about giving them the opportunity to take a role in leadership and run the business without dad looking over their shoulders or being a pain in the backside, as some would say, you know.

So I'm always on the end of the phone, but you have to hand over the reins at some point and give the youngsters that leg up and give them the opportunity to make their decisions and run the business.

And if you don't go and do these roles, why am I vice president of the National Farmers Union?

I want to see a future for the next generation and if I can shape something or do something within policy or within government or the use of land, make sure we have got a sustainable, profitable agricultural system business in Scotland, I'll achieve something.

But I might not achieve that.

But, you know, we've got it, we've got to try.

Somebody's got to get out there and shape agriculture.

So that's.

My driver is the next generation.

And John's exactly the same.

You know, he's got two boys, you know, we all want to try and make life better for our.

The next generation.

Yeah, there's a lot of youngsters really keen to get into farming at the moment.

I think it's quite.

There is a lot of positivity there.

It's just getting them that route into businesses or like Robert saying, get more responsibility because that's what you need at that age.

You're young and hungry and got tons of good ideas.

Not all farms are divisible though, are they, John?

So, I mean, how do you plan for succession?

That's a good question.

Our eldest son, Sarboys will be 20 and 17.

Our eldest son is really, really keen and he's actually back here living on the island now, has a job with Karl Martin with local ferry and he was saying to.

I heard Jamie, youngest one, saying to him, if we don't take on the farm, that'll be the end and that'll be the.

I think it's the sixth or seventh generation of McInnes that are farmed here at Kovrig.

And Carmen just turned to him, don't worry, I've got this, you don't need to worry about it.

And then Jamie went, well, you're assuming then, I don't want to take on the farm.

So I was going, right, you boys are going to have to have a chat about that.

Do you chat about it?

I mean, that's the nub of a lot of these problems, isn't it, that succession planning doesn't happen until it's too late or there's no planning done.

So how open are you with your boys?

We do chat about it a lot.

I think Cameron would like me to disappear already.

But you asked my favourite age earlier on.

I said 17.

I also, in my head think I'm 24.

So I've got an awful lot of, like, years left to give.

And Cameron, I think they keep calling you the old boy.

And wouldn't you driven out.

And I was going, no, not yet, guys, come on.

I think that's the curse of old age, isn't it, that whatever your body and everything else is doing in your head, you're still early 20s, younger.

Yeah, yeah.

But no, we will need to have more.

We do joke about it, we do talk about it, but I suppose we'll need to have more serious conversations as the next few years pass.

Robert, I mean, you spoke about your boys being involved, the business and you having, you know, taken what your father did for you and that's lovely that he.

You.

That's a really positive experience.

Yeah, well, my grandfather had three sons and two daughters and he set them all up in a farm each.

My father, there's three boys in my generation, he set all of us up on a farm each.

And I suppose the challenge for me is if my boys both want to farm and it looks as if they do want to farm, is having a sustainable business, that they can both have a decent life and profitability off the land that we're farming at the moment.

How much of your time is NFU at the moment is taken up by nfu?

Is it three or four days a week?

It's supposed to be three days, but it's just about full time.

There's something every day.

Yeah.

So it's a big undertaking.

And how much pressure do you feel from that?

A lot of pressure, yeah.

The role of being chairman of AgriScott was an absolute pleasure and an honour to do that.

And the pressure wasn't There because there was a fantastic team in place and Martin and John did it all.

It was just a case of facilitating meetings and just doing little bits.

But being vice president or president of the Farmers Union is a different pressure.

There's so many things going on within policy, within land use, environment, biodiversity, you name it, it's come across our table.

So it's been a bit of a quick learning curve of all these sectors and things that I've not been involved in.

You know, pigs and poultry, I've not been involved in, horticulture I've not been involved in.

You've got to get up to speed with all these things and deal with issues and we've all got issues and we've all probably got the same problems, but it's just pulling it all together.

So, yeah, a lot of pressure.

You must be really relishing that challenge.

But how do you press the sort of reset button?

How do you decompress?

So for me I'm involved in the point to points I do, starting at our local point to point track during the season.

But if I find a stressful day, I'll come home, switch the phone off when I quite like going to the workshop and have a welder in my hand.

I love manufacturing things, making gates, making infrastructure and doing improvements on the farm.

So that's a really satisfying thing that I really like doing.

And also problem solving.

You know, if John picks up the phone and he's got a problem, we'll sit there, we'll discuss it and I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people and solving problems that people have got.

And I suppose that's where the union comes in as well.

You know, you do a lot of that problem solving and speaking to members.

Yeah, that is very satisfying if you can solve a problem for somebody and they go away happy.

I mean, John, it's a unique.

Isn't it unique thought to actually switch off your phone.

How often do you switch off your phone?

Not often enough.

I probably.

Yeah, I have mine on all the time.

I'm quite guilty of that.

The agricult work though, it's quite.

There'll be folk that you've maybe sent an email to and then they'll call you and if you can take that call and answer the question, when you're out and about in the farm, you feel that you're be more efficient and getting the job done.

You tick a box.

But probably should.

Although to be fair, like I've quite.

I do have times I just said I don't have a Signal, which you don't out here and you know if you're away fencing a hill somewhere and you're out the way, you don't have a signal there and that is quite good.

So you can get away from it.

Oh, so that's every time I phone you and you see my name coming up on the phone.

Oh, no.

Signal.

Not answer that.

No, he's just said, remember Robert, he's just said he never switches it off.

So there's no excuse.

Apart from that old signal, that old signal one.

Oh, it's a black spot.

It's a black spot.

My biggest problem at the moment is I've got an older iPhone, I think I need to replace the battery.

So quite often it actually, the last few times has happened to be Robert little phone.

And you'll look at it and think, oh, I've got 5%, that's going to go really quick.

Battery's dying.

They'd lasted forever, didn't they?

I think there is a bit of a movement, the shift towards going back to those sort of like those retro phones because they just don't allow you to do so much.

John's right enough, though.

If the phone rings and you answer it and you answer a question, it's sometimes an awful lot quicker than emails and texts and whatsapps.

You know, if you just pick up the phone, you can have a quick chat and you know, the job's done and dusted.

I think we were probably when the phones were tied to a cord, we were a lot freer.

Mobile phones have made life busy, hectic and yeah, everybody thinks they should be contactable all the time, but when that phone was tied to the house, the pressure wasn't there.

Yeah, you could, you couldn't organize an event now without it, I don't think.

See, when you're on site at Ingleston and basically anyone can get in touch with you, you can contact anyone, you have a whole lot of information, your phone.

But then if you're organizing an event and you had no mobile phone, it would also be a lot less stressful because nobody could get to you with a problem.

So they would maybe have to try and solve some of them themselves, first of all, so it might be a bit easier.

And I'm thinking about your kids, John, a little bit, you know, and I appreciate they've to school during the week, but them living on the island and, you know, the remoteness, but obviously Being part of a great community.

But you know, the social media pressures and you know, how do you manage that?

Are they good at managing themselves?

My wife took care of that.

More like Joanne definitely put limits on their phone and screen time and all that sort of stuff.

Yeah.

Because social media is a minefield I think at the moment for teenagers to navigate their way through.

There's a lot of good on it, there's a lot of good things happen but there's also a lot of problems there.

So we're lucky.

Well, the boys are probably through it now, like they're old enough so it's fine.

But yeah, I would not like to be a teenager now myself.

Like starting off in high school and all the pitfalls of social media.

No way.

So how do you decompress on Iona?

What's your go to?

Probably golf.

There's about 12 of us that play and so if you put a message out, there's always someone that'll be going for a hit or that will become available and you'll pick a time and just go.

If you're an 18 hole golf course in Iona.

18 hole, natural course.

Yeah.

It's not just twice round nine.

No, no, no, 18 hole.

Some of them are a bit tight and we could do a wee bit more room between holes and tees.

But no, it's 18 holes natural course.

Quite a challenging course actually.

So you, you meet up with them.

We usually try and golf every Sunday in the winter.

Like that is our regular kind of fixture.

And then likes this weekend there's a trip organized a way to playing crail which is a bit unfortunate because it clashes with the Scottish farmer Agri Scott Awards.

So it's the boys will play in the Thursday and Friday but I'll just join them for the Friday.

And how much does that regular fixture boost your mental well being?

Oh it's good because like even if you go and play poorly, like you meet up with like with the boys, they've they've got other problems or things going on in their life.

You'll chat to them about stuff that's non farming, non agriscott.

You know, it's not related to any of that.

And there's a couple of times that'll be like sweithering about going and wife always say you should go just because think how much you enjoy it every time that you go just because as a you get a chance to chat away to them.

Even if the golf spot, the company's good and you have a good round and you feel better after it's just.

It's brilliant.

It's a really, really good thing to do.

And I'm thinking about that relationship, you know, both being married and both working alongside your partner, your wives in the farm, and then being very much involved.

I mean, I work with my husband and we find it very hard to separate, you know, switch off and not talk about work and not bring it to the kitchen table.

And I just wondered what tips you have for trying to, you know, separate the two and having time to yourselves.

Well, Joanne, there's a. Robert mentioned about the wool is our mule.

Wool is bought locally.

Iona wool goes through the craft shop.

And there was.

One of the girls was going to maternity leave and they're needing someone to cover.

And Joanne said that she wanted to basically get away from that environment they're talking about.

Could she miss, like, the office environment or what?

Basically working with colleagues.

So I think being stuck here on the farm, doing her work from home and on the farm, I think she just needed to get away from it and get away from me.

I think probably forever.

I was gonna say two or three days a week.

You probably didn't have much of a difference during COVID then, was it?

Life went on pretty much.

I absolutely loved Covid.

The schools broke up.

Remember, it was like March.

It was right before lambing time.

So basically both the boys home and the weather was amazing.

And that one time of year where there's.

There's quite a bit of conflict with tourists, there's two responding through the lambing fields, usually with dogs or whatever, so that you're tired, maybe you were grumpy, bad for the blood pressure, that kind of thing.

There was none of them, no tourists.

It was just so easy.

But Joanne was not enjoying it because she was just here all the time.

And she actually pulled me up at the end of, like, it was getting towards end of lamb and she was going, you're enjoying this far too much, aren't you?

It was fantastic.

We had very different experiences, but, yeah.

We were just really lucky about where.

I mean, imagine if you're in lockdown in a.

A small flat in a city center somewhere.

You know, it would have been really, really difficult.

We were lucky, really fortunate where we were.

So.

And Robert, what about yourself and your wife?

Yeah, well, she's my business partner, but she has got a job at the local showground at the Border Union Showground in Kelso, which is a new position they've created.

And she was lucky enough to get the role.

So it's about education, about getting the school leavers out looking for jobs for them within agriculture because I don't think the teachers realize how many jobs are associated with farming.

You know, from agronomists, vets, vet nurses, seed sales, salespeople, machinery, all of these things.

And just highlighting that, you know, there's loads of jobs out there for people if they want to get involved in agriculture.

So she's really thriving on that and enjoying that and getting into schools and getting them out on farm as well.

She also does ultra marathons to get away from them.

Now that's not.

That's miles and miles she runs, isn't it?

And hopefully she goes one direction then comes back.

I'm sure she does, Robert.

I'm sure she does.

And I mean you obviously you, okay, you come in, you switch off your phone, you grab the welder and off you go.

But I wonder what you do together to have, I mean, obviously, you know, holidays and the boys taking over.

How do you create that sort of line in the sand, that separation?

Yeah, I mean, we've had some great holidays over the years.

We're probably needing to do more of that as a couple and switch off more.

It's hard to switch off when you're, when you live on your working premises, you walk out the door and that's your office.

When you've got a big farm and mixed farm with lots of livestock and cereals and things, there's always something to do.

But John walks out his back door and he's got an 18 hole golf course.

Whenever I'm getting beaten in the winter in a match, I always actually only did it once.

But the guys say I do it all the time.

I say, oh, there's a cow calving, I've got to go.

If I'm about the 8th or 9th and I'm struggling, I just sit at the back of the farm and I head home.

And it amazes what you speak about your wife and ultramarathons.

She must feel fantastic after a run because you do.

Once you've done some of the, you know, something physical, I think a lot of people have different releases and, you know, activity for her sounds like her thing.

Do you do anything on a daily basis that just clears the head?

Just go out the back door, get out on the farm, go and look at the livestock and hopefully they're all looking well and that's satisfying.

How fit fit would you say you are fairly fit?

I would say yeah, try and walk and keep fit and keep in tune.

So, yeah, I mean, John, what about you?

I Mean physical.

I mean, I suppose physical health, physical well being.

You're on an island, you're out, you're probably dealing with things physically every day.

But is there anything that you do do that sort of hits the spot?

Yeah, I do a wee bit of running.

Nothing like what I should do.

I used to play a lot of football when I lived in the mainland.

Even looking back still played a wee bit.

So I miss that.

Like they've that kept you really fit by old age.

Your body can't keep up that.

So do a wee bit of running.

We actually built a gym shed in the back garden, but that was mainly the boys that were driving it.

I don't know.

Teenage boys like to do weights and all this sort of stuff a lot more.

And now that's got a running machine, cycling machine in it.

So we're going like you try and do that a wee bit in the winter.

Probably need to.

I always make a big announcement on a Sunday night saying, right, it's going to be a big week of fitness ahead.

This is what I say, big week of fitness.

Full of motivation.

I'll maybe do something on the Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and then that's it.

Quite often I don't do anymore, but I've got full of good intentions and.

I was thinking about island communities and west coast especially.

There is sometimes an association with, you know, enjoying the pub and going down to the pub and perhaps the sort of risk of enjoying that too much.

And I just wonder if you.

How you keep a good balance there.

Well, fortunately the pub on Iona shuts during the winter so that takes that equation for an option.

Usually they go to one of ours houses, that kind of thing does it.

We built.

There was a new village hall got built recently and there's a lot of things on in over the course of the winter as well.

I'm just, you know, on, on an island and in a community lives very closely, you know, together and cheek by jowl.

Would you notice if other people were struggling?

It's a good point.

You probably, you might in some cases, but other cases you wouldn't at all because you'd hear about it a wee bit late, you know, when it's actually become more of a problem.

I'm thinking about your golf, you know, golfing once a week and the guys and girls that you golf with.

How often would you really share with them during that, that, that round?

Well, you, yeah, you would quite often talk about things that have been bothering you and yeah, you grow up together too.

Like you've grown up with these guys, most of them.

And on the farming side of things here, like there's a few.

Couple of younger guys with crofts and stuff and you'll.

If ever you're stuck, you get help from them.

You know, you go and so quite good at helping one another.

Anyway.

There's a good island community in that way.

Like when we're making wee bales of hay.

This summer we had an absolute.

On paper it was a disaster of an operation with like three wee balers broke down but we ended up.

There was one that worked and went round like five different places making sure everyone got their hay baled, finished off hours.

Had quite a sociable night that night.

But it was good.

It was a brilliant experience the whole thing with everyone pitching in and working together.

Yeah.

And thinking about the next few weeks and you know, the build up to Agri Scott and I'm wondering how much pressure you feel and how you cope with that pressure and stress.

Depends how your inbox is looking.

Sometimes you look at it and think, oh, that's brilliant.

I'm right up today and I've got various things sorted, ticked off to do.

List Martin Dare that I work with.

He's exceptionally well organized.

This Robert will know.

He keeps us all in line.

So you know when everything has to be done by a certain date and then once you arrive on site.

That's actually the best bit.

It's quite.

Because you can't do anything else you can't do any more.

You've put all your plans in place and you just all have to work together to try and make sure you deliver it.

I quite like it.

Like the.

If you call it pressure.

I don't know.

I like the challenge of trying to deliver a good event on site.

We've got a brilliant team of forklift drivers, tractor drivers.

Robert's two sons come and help us.

They're exceptional.

That makes a lot easier.

We work with really good contractors on site as well.

Electricians and the stand builders and stuff.

And so that takes a lot of pressure off what you think is a problem and then you'll go to some of them and they're so willing and so helpful, real can do attitude with virtually the whole team that we work with.

So that makes it better.

Must be lovely to hear that about your boys, Robert.

And I'm just wondering with that build up and then moving roles and there being a lot of pressure on the industry at the moment and I just wonder, are you good at putting things into perspective?

Yeah.

You have to put things into Perspective.

There's always good days and bad days and yeah, the good days hopefully will outweigh the bad days.

So, yeah, being involved in Agri Scott and as long as the cows are happy, we're there just about, I think, John.

But you didn't give recogn.

You didn't give recognition to the plumber there.

So I'm a bit disappointed that he's not recommending.

I was going to say the plumber, but then, yeah, Robert in his role, although when he was chairman he also did a lot.

He basically did anything.

He pressure washed one of the doorways to clean it.

Did a lot of plumbing.

Clear drains.

Yeah.

Well, I'm not sure that's the job I would.

Plumbing?

Yeah, plumbing at an Agri Scott event.

I don't know if that's.

No, there won't be too many chairmen cutting around in a boiler suit getting their hands dirty events.

I don't think so.

It's quite good.

Yeah.

And then after that, that sort of like reflection, reflecting on things and are you good at sort of taking feedback and going, okay, we could have done this better or is it quite a good environment for sharing and saying, okay, no, we got that right.

We could do better.

You're quite good at taking that feedback.

Yeah, we're constantly like through the event.

In fact, from now on we run our improvements document, basically list anything in any of the different areas of the event that could be improved.

We do exhibitor surveys and visitor surveys.

And quite often at the event you'll get a real high.

You'll experience some really good feedback from exhibitors seeing how good the event's been.

But then when the actual surveys go out, you'll maybe get.

They're back in their office and you get a wee bit more considered feedback and that'll just not take the edge off it.

I think that's good because you'll maybe get one or two comments that just keep you from becoming complacent and drive you on for the next year.

And Robert, just thinking about your new rule.

Do you get first aid nerves still?

All the time.

Definitely.

You know, there's a lot of pressure on you.

A lot of speaking events where you're obviously up there speaking to an audience and that probably gets easier with.

As time goes on.

But you still get nervous.

If you don't get nervous, you're not doing the job right, I don't think, you know, and get that adrenaline rush.

And you spoke about shaping the future for your boys and other young people coming through the industry.

What Are you relishing about the role?

Just making sure that our voice is heard within Scotland, you know, within government.

You know, if we've not got agriculture in Scotland, what has Scotland got?

You know, we have tourism because we've got a lovely scenery and lovely hills, but a lot of those hills are not productive, you know, and we need to keep making sure that we keep banging the drums for everybody in every sector.

The people that are on Iona mull high up in the hills, the people down in the borders, people in the Northeast, you know, so diverse in so many different systems, which obviously affects profitability.

So we just need to keep working away at it.

Jordan, sadly, no matter what we think, we're not 17.

What's the next challenge for you?

What's exciting for you ahead?

And what are you looking forward to the most?

Probably just keep doing what you're doing, what I'm doing, but do it better.

Look to try and improve every day in what you're doing.

Definitely going to be exciting as the boys get more involved in the farm and that, you know, the next stage there lies ahead.

Are you going to be good at letting go of the reins?

Oh, yeah, I'll have to be.

You've got too many golf courses to play.

Golf courses to go and play.

Yeah, that's.

That's the thing, I think you have to be.

You have to step back.

It's also quite like when you're working with livestock, because particularly cattle, it's quite a dangerous job.

And you see old guys getting clattered in pens and stuff like that.

The animals are bigger and stronger now than they used to be.

Other always in theory, getting, you know, there's a lot of bigger beasts around.

You just don't move as quickly.

So, yeah, you do.

What, you don't want to linger around too long and become a government statistic.

Well, keep golfing, keep moving.

Yeah, yeah.

Already broke a couple of fingers last winter and one of them was involved in a cow incident.

So.

But that actually gives me a good excuse.

If you're playing poorly, if you're playing fine, you never, ever feel it.

If you're playing poorly, you go, oh, it's that finger.

It's just, you know that your 11 pals are listening to this and.

Yeah, yeah.

Know your excuses now.

Well, they already tell me, well, all.

The best with Agri Scott and Robert, all the best with your new role.

It's exciting for you both what's coming up in the next few weeks and months and thank you very much for your time.

It's been lovely to chat to you both.

Yep, thank you.

Thank you very much for having us.

Really enjoyed it.

Huge thanks to John McInnis and Robert Neal for taking the time to speak and for being so candid.

I really hope this episode of Blether Together from Farmstrong Scotland has entertained and maybe provided some inspiration for supporting your own well being.

Find farmstrong Scotland online farmstrongscotland.org or find us and connect on social media media.

See you next time.