The farm family is not recognised for the diverse, mini-organisation it is in itself, Bank of Ireland head of agriculture Sean Farrell has said.

Farrell was speaking at the Ceres Network business breakfast this week which focused on the challenges of embracing diversity and effecting change in agri-food. He said that when in conversation with a farm family over the farm owner by themselves, there are multiple voices with diverse opinions.

“We can either have a conversation with the farmer, typically male, or with the farm family, that may involve the next generation, that may involve his or her spouse.”

Farrell said the more voices there are in conversations, the better the outcomes and the faster decisions are made.

“It’s very interesting to see when it is an all-inclusive conversation with the farm family or perhaps with just the farmer themselves and how that plays out.” Applying this to Bank of Ireland, Farrell said: “We need to take our customers’ makeups and backgrounds, and their objectives and desires into consideration when we’re planning our own structures and putting policies in place.”