Host Peter Green talks to Cornish Mutual's Managing Director, Peter Beaumont, about Cornish Mutual, where it's going and the reasons for starting the podcast.
In this episode we hear from Cornish Mutual's Managing Director as he reflects on Cornish Mutual's past, present and future. We also reflect on why Cornish Mutual is making the Farming Focus podcast.
For more information on Cornish Mutual visit cornishmutual.co.uk
Farming Focus is out every fortnight on Tuesdays.
Timestamps
00:09 Host Peter Green comes in.
00:29 Peter Beaumont comes in.
00:46 Cornish Mutual is a trusted partner for farming families in the south west and the wider rural community.
01:35 Peter Green's grandparents were members of Cornish Mutual and it was always another trusted partner for them.
04:22 Getting out to the county shows. For Peter Beaumont it's a very important time.
06:44 New entrants and who are they interacting with. It is those who are reaching out to others and looking to the outside who are making things work.
08:39 What marks out the businesses that are more successful? Peter Beaumont thinks it is thinking ahead and planning.
10:11 Cornish Mutual is looking to do more in terms of helping members through the changes that are coming. The communications space is key here.
11:50 The importance of withstanding shocks. Resilience comes with taking a holistic view at what could happen.
14:58 The importance of getting off the farm now and then.
16:28 The importance of using your networks.
19:24 Business is a different journey for everybody.
20:30 What is Peter excited about for the year ahead?
22:05 The killer question...cream teas...
23:30 What is special for Peter about Cornish Mutual.
25:49 Cornish Mutual ad.
25:55 Peter Green rounds up.
Peter Green
Hello and welcome to Farming Focus. I'm your host, Peter Green, and on this bonus episode, we're going to meet Peter Beaumont, the Managing Director of Cornish Mutual, to hear about the unique relationship that Cornish Mutual has with its members and how it continues to evolve, not least with the launch of this podcast.
Peter, do you want to introduce yourself?
Peter Beaumont
Yeah. Hi. My name's Peter Beaumont and I'm the Managing Director at Cornish Mutual. I've been doing this job about three and a half years, but I've been here a lot, quite a lot longer. I was the Finance Director prior to that, and I moved to Cornwall to come and do that, to do the job.
Peter Green
And Cornish Mutual, as we've, um, talked about, uh, a number of occasions previously has been and continues to be a, a trusted partner for not only farming families in the Southwest, but you know, the wider rural community, um, for many, many years. What do you put this down to?
Peter Beaumont
This is the longest time I've ever been at an individual organization and it, it really gets under your skin. So it's something I've thought about. I think it is down to the mutuality and how that projects out. It's that sense of trust you were touching on. Um, I think that's the really the, probably the most important thing about Cornish Mutual. It's, uh, an organization that people have learned to trust over multiple generations. And, you know, we have farming families who've been with us, you know, since the beginning.
Peter Green
Yeah. And, and on that point I was thinking, as I was driving in today, I can remember going to Cornish Mutual's old offices with my grandparents to pay their checks in for their premiums. And I was thinking, well, how long ago was that? I mean, um, I've recently had a, a birthday with a zero in it. And, um, it, so it's gotta be 35 years ago probably that that happened. But it was always just another trusted partner. It was like another person sitting around the table for them. And I think. I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but that sense of it being a mutual, it's almost like it's not a third party organization.
Do you think that, um, the members of Cornish Mutual feel that sense of ownership they get from it being a mutual?
Peter Beaumont
I think it's probably slightly subtler than that, because I don't think everyone understands specifically the legal form of mutuality. So the reality is we don't have shareholders. We don't have that sort of set of stakeholders who are looking to make a profit out of it.
Um, and when we speak to members, some understand it and some don't. I think the most important thing is the behaviour It drives internally. It's well understood internally, and so I think working here, you, you don't ever feel conflicted by that sort of, oh, I've got to balance the need of our members against the need of the owners who are taking money out.
They're the one and the same. And it, it really gives you the freedom to make the right choices. And that's the behaviour I think that people respond to. To be trusted, you need to be trustworthy and. And, and I think you know that, that sense that, you know, you can do the right thing by the members without getting in trouble for not selling them something they don't need.
Yeah. Or hitting some erroneous target or, or whatever. And, and those are the things we can avoid through our mutuality. So the mutuality is incredibly important and that's what drives it. So even if you don't understand it, that it's a result of that, that's what you're experiencing.
Peter Green
Yeah. So the members of the team aren't just carrying out transactions, you know, it's more than that.
Peter Beaumont
Absolutely. I mean, they're really, they're really…I mean, so many of our employees are from a farming background, and they understand the challenges. They really feel it, you know, they're, they're might be their. Parents or their brothers and sisters are working farmers. And so if we were doing anything that was in conflict with that, they would feel it straight away and that feedback would come through.
So yeah, I think there's a, a real living and, and breathing the member experience, you know, it's really strongly felt, and of course we are face to face with members. We've, you know, a fully a quarter of the people are out. That's their job out meeting members and the rest of us, you know, get to see members on a regular basis.
We're just heading into show season, just had our first show, Devon County this past weekend, and it, it just brings it all back and, you know, you're getting that, that real direct contact and seeing the issues and able to talk to people and see what they're feeling and where you know, where their success is and their worries are.
Peter Green
Yeah, that must be a really special time of the year being able to get out yourself and get to the shows and meet a good number of members in one day or one weekend, or whatever it might be.
Peter Beaumont
For me, it's the most important part. And I think also the rest of our board get the opportunity to do that as well. Yes. You know, you can forget what you you're doing when you're sat in the office, can't you? And sort of loads of things coming across your, your desk. But when you get to engage with the end user of, of your service, it's, it's, you know, the most important moment in your year. Really. Yeah.
Peter Green
And you touched on going out to a show just recently. What were people saying there? How were people in the farming community and particularly feeling about where farming is?
Peter Beaumont
There's obviously a huge amount of change, which feels like we're always saying that. Of course. When is it not? I suppose the, the sense was that. We're coming into a more uncertain period on the financial side because perhaps there's been a couple of years where for some farmers, you know, prices have been better.
Um, had a few conversations about how many new tractors have been bought, and people may be thinking they should have put some money aside instead. Yeah, yeah. But, uh, obviously the subsidies are, are really starting to fall away pretty sharply now. Yeah. Um, But interestingly, I think open, open to some new, new ideas as well.
Met quite a few new entrants as well. Part of the show was the night before was the, Devon Farm Business Awards and there's quite a lot of new entrants with new ideas and running slightly different, um, business models. Um, so there's quite a lot of, I think, quite a lot of inspiring stuff out there as well.
So perhaps it, it just generally felt maybe more hope; more hopeful than I was anticipating.
Peter Green
Yeah, and I think that interaction between new entrants and existing established farming families is always quite interesting. And I think I'm guilty myself sometimes of having a bit of a prejudiced view. I've got some friends who have just started up, um, with their own small holding, and it's quite easy to look at what they're doing and to say, oh, you know, well, I wouldn't have done it like that.
And I think they'll learn that that wasn't that straightforward. What's your experience? At something like an awards where you've got these new entrants who are clearly succeeding, doing well, trying new things of that interaction.
Peter Beaumont
I mean, you get the full range. It's not whether they're doing it right now, it's, it's who they're interacting with.
I think the people who are speaking to others about what is working and, and are prepared to learn. That seems to me to be the defining feature of all the ones that are making progress and whether that's, uh, sort of advisors or whether it's they, you know, family and friends. If they've, if they've got a background or neighbours or they're just, they're highly engaged and, and trying different things.
Peter Green
And you talked about, um, having been with Cornish Mutual for a while, and so you'll have seen some change in the way members are doing farming. Is that one of the most notable areas? So in the extent to which new entrants now are open to new ideas versus perhaps where, where the industry was when you first joined Cornish Mutual.
Peter Beaumont
Yeah. I see a lot more evidence of people being interested, more interested in. New, the new stuff. It, it seems to be a driver for new, for new entrants, but then equally you've seen existing operations, um, changing as well. But quite often there's, there's a little bit of a changing of, of the guard. This is really anecdotal, but it just feels like maybe that.
That succession events being pulled forward because it's not, um, in some cases there, there's a bit of a step change in the business, so it might be moving towards perhaps rotational grazing or, or some input reduction. And so it's not the same schedule as it was last year. Someone wants to try something different and it, it takes, it maybe outside of one person's comfort zone and, and someone else comes in and, and is prepared to take that extra bit of the leap.
Peter Green
And those businesses, those families perhaps, Where you are seeing that change, that sort of creep towards the slightly newer ideas, what are the catalysts in those businesses? What, what marks out the businesses which are more successful at making change successfully?
Peter Beaumont
Um, I think thinking ahead and planning.
Um, I think, you know…We've had, you know, we've had a couple of years of higher prices. The people who can see ahead and the prices are going to fall are taking different actions to the one who's still got the money in the bank. You can't wait until the money's not there and then, and then act. Um, so it, I think it is that that constant re-evaluation and I know it's incredibly difficult to do.
I think one of the things of, of observing farming over the years is just the admiration I have for people who do it because it's such a diverse and challenging job. And for. Finding time to think ahead and, and strategize a bit. Um, but I would say that that is one of the, you know, really, really key activities and experience, you know, experimenting and, and not being so fearful of failure is another really important thing.
And part of that is not being fearful that the next generation's gonna somehow mess it up. But, you know, give 'em a chance to try that ideas. And there's, there's different mechanisms by which that can be done as well. You don't have to ha hand the whole thing over.
Peter Green
Yeah. And we talked a lot. In a very short space of time already about change, uh, in agriculture.
And, and you mentioned that, that that farming in the UK is at a bit of a crossroads. We've got changes in government policy. We've got different trading relationships now from, from what we did, um, seven years ago or more, and the demands from consumers are changing as well. How do you see Cornish Mutual evolving to support its members in the coming years?
Peter Beaumont
One of the things we get back from the surveying we've done of our members and we sort of, we sort of started down the sort of asking about insurance and risk and also all those sorts of things. One of the things that kept coming back was, we know there's changes coming, but we don't know where to go for the answers.
And, uh, we know we're a trusted organization and we've talked about that, uh, before. So I think one of the really key things for us to do and, and this sort of podcast is part of that is help that com in that communication space. So helping people find the good case studies, the good examples, the good supply chains, sharing the things that have worked around the membership.
Base, you know, we've got a very significant footprint. I think that's probably the, the starting point for us is that communication. So we've been doing some more work with trying to encourage farm walks around particular themes, um, to demonstrate some things that have worked. Perhaps we'll be able to find some things and demonstrate that the things that don't work as well, um, it's great.
Always great to learn from other people's mistakes, isn't it, for example. So that, that's the first thing. And then, um, beyond that, we are speaking to the membership and asking them, you know, where else they'd like us to develop our offering to, to start to maybe help a little bit more than just, you know, there's more to resilience than insurance.
Are there other things that we can help deliver, either directly or through supply chain? Cornish Mutual farming insurance experts working to protect the farming community since 1903.
Peter Green
And resilience is the theme of this first series of the podcast. And I was trying to reflect, um, myself on what it means to me.
And I think really particularly thinking about my farming business, it's about withstanding shocks my family have, have been through some particularly, uh, shocking events. And some of those risks are really difficult, not, not impossible to anticipate, but I think one can feel that the business is much more resilient if you are just taking a fairly holistic view of what different things could happen.
It might be as simple as saying, well, last year we had a really dry summer, and right now the grass is probably getting a little bit far ahead of the cows, but actually given the weather patterns we're seeing at the moment, I'm not gonna take all of that grass for silage. I might need some grass in three weeks time.
It might be as short term and as small as that. But thinking about resilience specifically, what, what does it mean to you and, and why is it such an important topic to be looking at for our rural communities right now?
Peter Beaumont
I think you hit the nail on the head. Really, it's that capacity to deal with. Shock.
It's also that capacity to change, I think is very closely linked in how you describe, you know, thinking ahead. It's that, that planning point we were talking about before mm-hmm. It's having that ability to be able to deal with shocks, whether they come through the sort of some personal event or whether event or a business event.
You know, there's, there's, they can come from all sorts of places and, and so you need different types of capacity within the business, so you'd need some personal. Fortitude sometimes, or a a, a good support network. You know, knowing where to go to ask and, and just having the courage to, courage to ask perhaps.
Um, obviously there's a financial component to it, so it's, you know, a bit of planning as well, making sure if that crop doesn't come in or the, the weather's not quite right, that you're gonna be able to get through that and it's not gonna put you under existential threats, I suppose. Yeah.
Peter Green
We talked a bit there about anticipating change, and something that I find really difficult to do is to sort of separate, um, my time and to make time away from the operations. I had a, a boss who used to refer to the muck and the bullets, you know, being really stuck into the day job. But actually he would, he would really compel myself and, and my peer group to sort of make time for working on the business as well as in it.
How do you make time? Particularly in your role, which you know, has a lot, lot of, um, strategic elements, how do you make time for that planning to sort of anticipate change and how do you see successful examples on farms of people doing that? What is it that those people are doing?
Peter Beaumont
Engage with others for sure.
It's very hard to self-generate everything you need. I always make sure I take time to go to. Conferences, you know, trade conferences or I, I look out for interesting events and make sure I go along to those. Going to shows if we've got a farm walk, I'll try and make sure. I'll, I'll go to some of those. It, again, it would be very easy to avoid those because there's always a, a pile on the desk that needs, um, needs a dressing.
But you just have to say, you have to understand the importance of it. I, I can't remember the right phrase. You'll, you'll know there's something about getting off the farm for an hour, hour a week or, yeah.
Peter Green
So I, I always quite, um, I think Matt Naylor who did a piece, the Farmer was weekly, many years ago, and he said that he would encourage people to get off their farm once a day out of their parish once a week out of their county once a month and out of their country once a year.
And the idea of getting that perspective just really resonates and that, I think that's what you're saying in part.
Peter Beaumont
Totally. It is about perspective. If you go somewhere else, everything else sort of falls away. It's a bit, if you do get this opportunity, I know everyone does, but you know, you talked about holiday, if you get out of the country and then you are in a totally different sort of frame of mind and it's almost like you're like, oh, let's move here and, you know, everything else falls away, doesn't it for a bit.
And then you, and then you get back. But if, if in that time that gives you that. That space when your brain, lets go of everything else. That's when the other ideas, and especially if you go along and maybe see someone else's operation and, and some of the lessons they've learned, it, it can be incredibly valuable and give you a completely and utterly different perspective.
Peter Green
So just trying to summarize what, what we've covered off then we've, you know, we've talked a lot about the change that's going on in, in UK agriculture at the moment, but it feels to me like what we're saying in, in terms of. Increasing personal resilience and the, and the resilience of a, a person's a particular business.
Try and look around you, get that perspective and try and, you know, get your head above the parapet. Use your networks, people that you know, people that you deal with. It might be neighbours, it might be people that are in completely different walks of life, but use, use them and their perspective, but also from the sound of it.
Be ready to adapt, you know, try and have a mind that's looking ahead and thinking, you know, well, if this risk were to come about, then how can we, uh, preempt it and maybe put ourselves in a position to better cope with it?
Peter Beaumont
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Really. I think those are all the defining features, and it's not just farming businesses, actually.
Those, those are the things that. Successful businesses do across the whole sector. So for example, you know, sort of tying that to an insurance company, that's, we're actually a regulated business. So some of the things that the regulator requires us to do is sit and think about the scenarios that could upset the business.
So we, we actually do that sort of planning. As an insurer, we also then have to add it up and work out what the number is that we need to keep in the bank, um, against those contingencies. And we have this continuous sort of risk management approach that that goes on and that, and that is how we, how we run the business.
And part of that is, you know, looking at what's going on in the industry and speaking to others because there's always something new that comes along that you've got to change. Yeah. Um, you can't anticipate everything, so you, you have to have that, that those resources around you to react and respond when they do come along.
I think one of the really specific challenges for farming businesses is they've become so thin in terms of people who are working in the business because of automation and, and, and the efficiency piece. It, you know, a lot of our members, there's, there's a soul working person on there and maybe a, you know, maybe one or.
One or two other people on there at all. So the extra level of effort required to go out and build those networks, cuz it's, I mean, here we've got a hundred people so I can bounce stuff off. But if, if I was working in a, a, you know, as a sole business person, I'd really have to work. Even hard, you know, really hard to go and find, find those people to talk to.
So, so that probably stepping off the farm and making yourself go to that event. And that's another important point, you know, might not have that really specific goal in mind, but just getting off and making contacts is ha has value in itself.
And that's, that's really interesting because that's something, when I speak to other people about, um, going to a farm walk, uh, and getting away from farm, there's a sense that, oh, I've got all these jobs that I have to do.
Peter Green
And they are jobs that, that they have done for, for many years and, and generations sometimes. And I think the thing which can be really difficult is to evaluate which jobs are actually adding value. You know, which, which things. Would we not miss if we didn't do them? How do you think farmers can better do that?
Peter Beaumont
I think this is down to individuals. It's not just down to a change in farming practice. You've got to find a way of recognizing that you need that time and, and so it's gonna be a different journey for everybody. Some people just naturally do it. But there's that saying, isn't there, you know, if you want something done, give it to a busy person.
And I would just say it's an observation that the, the people out there with the businesses are just zinging along really nicely. On the face of it, they look like incredibly busy operations and they, you know, they've got loads of stuff going on, but they're also out there, out and about meeting other people.
And I think it's not an accident that, that's why. They've got all those insights and they've spotted the opportunities because they just have taken that time away from the business and had had that breather. If you don't do that four hour job and you go out, you might come back realizing how you can do it in two, but you're not gonna get that insight just by it staying.
Peter Green
It's very easy to say, but I do have to do it myself. I'm, you know, not, not from a farming sense. But I, I have to put that stack aside on and make decisions about what not to do, uh, if I'm gonna go head off and, and, and go and look into some event or, or, or some other aspect of the business that I dunno about at the moment.
Again, keeping on this topic of change, we, there's lots going on in, in agriculture generally at the moment, but what are you excited about with Cornish Mutual and the year ahead? What have you got coming up and which plans are you really excited to see coming to fruition?
Peter Beaumont
We will be building on the extra events that we've been putting on just getting that high level of contact with the membership.
So we've obviously got the shows, um, we've got our sort of farm works, we've got, we've had, um, an engagement role that we put out that was new, um, and has been running for a while, and that's really sort of stunning starting to come to fruition. We're developing some new. Services as well, which we'll continue to do.
So we, we started, uh, in an area that was, that was parallel to insurance with, uh, some health and safety work. And that's gone. That's been really appreciated I think partly because it takes some of the warrior away from that area, but actually we do a lot of the work. Make it really easy to get through.
We want to develop the services in other areas so we, we can do something similar, really help people with the sort of direction of travel. So one of the areas we've, uh, invested in is, uh, soil health. It's really emerging as a, a, a really preeminent and important topic. Yeah. You can just see it as one of those areas where the wrong advice can lead you down the wrong path.
So other people's work has p really pointed in the direction, say independent. Agronomy, uh, advice is, is really critical. So it's an area we are, we are really exploring at the moment.
Peter Green
Cool. Great. Well, that sounds very exciting. I'm really conscious of your time. Thank you so much for spending, uh, so much time with us and, uh, and uh, being so sort of full with your answers.
I've got a couple of killer questions which we have to ask. I've been told every single guest on the show. So the first one, and you need to really think carefully about how you answer this, I think, is when it comes to a cream tea. Is it jam first or cream first?
Peter Beaumont
Oh, that's really unfair. She's, isn't it?
You fully know. You fully know we operate across a broad region.
Peter Green
I do. And I'm expecting you to sit firmly on the fence here, Peter. So which way are you gonna go with?
Peter Beaumont
I, I have to admit, I have to admit that I actually do. I'm very careful which way round we do it, depending on which county we're in, in case I'm secretly photographed.
So I follow the county rules along county, uh, county lines. And that's, so I actually, and we, and we've done that in our campaigns. A few years ago we had some flyers. With cream teas on them and we had to do different photographs for the different counties.
Peter Green
…is that right? Absolutely. Very good. Well, that's a very diplomatic answer, Peter.
I'm very impressed. Thank you very much for that. And I'm sure that, uh, Cornish Mutual members across the region will be relieved to hear that you're doing it the correct way, whichever that is. Yeah. Regardless of where you are. So that's great. Thank you. And I guess the other question, um, that we are trying to ask everyone is, um, An early farming memory.
So when you first joined Cornish Mutual, was there anything that you were particularly struck by and that perhaps has stuck with you from going out on farm?
Peter Beaumont
I think that my first farm visit going out when, when I arrived and I, I spent probably a couple of months here before I even went anywhere. There was, there was a lot to do and I.
Didn't have a farm, sort of farm visit as part of my induction and, and when I first went out, it was just so different, um, from what I was expecting. And I probably should be, I I, I'll be quite sort of candid on my answer cuz I, it, it was quite shocking. But we were meeting up with a member and. The inspector, um, as we called him at the time was, was talking to the member and sort of giving him the price, et cetera, and the member handed over a blank check and I was in a finance role and that was like anathema and quite scary, but it was the total level of trust.
And I, and I spoke to the, the person afterwards and said, I don't think that's, you know, we should really be doing that. He said, well, actually this member isn't very confident about their writing. And they, you know, it would take them a long time. So he signs it and gives it to me and I fill it out and, and that I thought was a really humbling moment because it was, it showed the level of trust in the organization.
But he was, you know, the, the, the farm was, was, was great and so different from what I was expecting. It was, it was, it just, The sheer level of hard work and the, and that variety of tasks. But, but it was the check that stood out for me. Yeah. And the, and the, that relationship with the company.
Peter Green
Well, that's fantastic. And I, and I'm sure that's, uh, still very much where Cornish Mutual are with many people today.
Peter Beaumont
Well, I hope so. And, um, you know, sitting on the inside and seeing all the hard work people here do. I, I think, you know, we're still in a position where that trust is earned, but we need to continue to earn it every day.
And, uh, we're, yeah, we're trying to respond to what the, what the membership needs. And particularly I think during such challenging times when there's lots of change and the membership's asking, you know, where do I go for that? You know, what, what better time than now for Cornish Mutual to try and do a little bit more.
Peter Green
Peter, thank you again ever so much for your time. No doubt. We will speak to you again soon.
Peter Beaumont
Thank you very much.
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Peter Green
That's it for this bonus episode. Thank you very much for listening, and I hope that you enjoy the series as we go through it. Episodes of Farming Focus will be released every fortnight on Tuesdays.
Please spread the word about the podcast, tell your Farming neighbours and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast so that you don't miss any episodes. You've been listening to a bonus episode of Farming Focus, brought to you by Cornish Mutual. I've been Peter Green.
Until next time, it's goodbye from me and everyone in the Cornish Mutual podcast team.