What skills will build teams that react to opportunities and challenges together? Technical STEM skills, like robotics and agriscience, have the potential to unlock many of the nine disruptions highlighted in the introduction. Leading organisations are investing in these areas, sourcing skills and talent to develop with on- the-job training. But these specific, specialised skills are only part of the picture. Over four million people are employed in the food and drink sector across a diverse subset of businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and hospitality 5 . Women in Food’s research suggests skills emerging as widely important across the food and drink supply chain include:
Systems-thinking On shifting sands, a new way of thinking is essential for employees. It combines being open to change, comfortable with informed risk and confident to be a leader in your own right. It is key for people to see the pieces of the puzzle, bring them together, then meaningfully translate that to decision makers in the business – helping them understand the risk of doing something and, crucially, of doing nothing too. This requires people to look beyond their own beliefs and desired outcomes, focusing instead on the signals of change and how they connect to inform decision- making. However powerful AI becomes, the ability to interpret those signals critically and apply human judgement remains essential.
Resilience This can help people hold both the immediate and long-term paradox in decisions, which is so vital as seen in section 1. “The next generation of talent needs to be commercial and fundamentally approach every question with the future in mind, always starting from a supply-base stability point of view,” says India Moore from Sainsbury’s.
5. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Food statistics in your pocket, 29 July 2026
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