Hiring Success: Terrafarmer & Mackinnon Bruce in Regenerative Agriculture
Background
Terrafarmer are a regenerative and biological farming consultancy based in the UK. With a focus on improving soil health, they offer holistic services, including advanced soil sampling, regenerative farming centred agronomic advice, and soil carbon assessments. Their mission is to implement sustainable and regenerative practices across the UK agricultural sector, helping farmers transition to biologically driven, resilient systems.
Challenges
Despite a strong mission and deep technical expertise, Terrafarmer faced two key challenges in scaling: limited brand awareness compared to larger competitors, which impacted candidate volume and quality, and the absence of a dedicated HR resource, restricting their recruitment capacity.
Tom Harris, our Ag-Tech consultant, partnered with Terrafarmer to address these challenges.
Tom successfully placed 7 candidates into Terrafarmer, including:
- 3X Business Development Managers
- 3X FACTS and BASIS qualified Regenerative Agronomists
- 1 X Head Of Soil Operations
Solution
To support Terrafarmer’s hiring needs, Mackinnon Bruce International provided a strategic and research-driven approach to talent acquisition, ensuring a seamless and efficient recruitment process.
Key services included:
- Market Mapping: Identifying high-potential talent pools within regenerative agronomy, and aligned sectors across the UK
- Mission-Led Outreach: Engaging candidates through storytelling around TerraFarmer’s mission and purpose towards regenerative agriculture, increasing candidate alignment and motivation.
- Competitor & Sector Insights: Drawing on 6+ years of specialist agricultural experience to attract candidates from both direct competitors and adjacent market leaders.
- Headhunting & Personalised Messaging: Outreach efforts focused on values-driven professionals with a demonstrated passion for sustainable agriculture.
- Strategic Advisory: Consulting on organisational structure and defining role profiles that would support both current business needs and long-term growth.
Implementation
The recruitment project was implemented over nine months through a structured and collaborative process:
- Candidate Sourcing: Utilising research, networking, and specialised job advertising.
- Interview Process: Two-stage approach with an initial 20-minute pre-qualifying call, followed by a one-hour online interview.
- Ongoing Communication: Weekly research reports shared with GEA, providing full visibility on candidate outreach, engagement, and reasons for candidate disinterest.
- Regular Client Engagement: Weekly discussions to align on progress, address concerns, and refine the approach as needed.
Results
Mackinnon Bruce International successfully delivered 7 high-quality placements within a nine-month engagement.
In addition, many of these candidates were not previously aware of Terrafarmer before Tom’s outreach. However, by positioning the company’s mission and long-term vision, Tom secured high-quality professionals who were aligned with Terrafarmer’s values and long-term growth plans. This helped to boost Terrafarmer’s brand awareness as well as sourcing the right talent for them.
Conclusion
Through their partnership with Mackinnon Bruce International, Terrafarmer has significantly strengthened its internal capabilities and broadened its reach across the UK farming sector. With a mission-aligned team in place, they are now better positioned to support farmers in transitioning toward regenerative practices.
Key takeaways of this case study highlight:
- The value of industry-specialist recruitment in regenerative agriculture.
- How purpose-driven outreach can overcome brand visibility challenges.
- The importance of a tailored, research-led hiring process when internal HR resources are limited.
Mackinnon Bruce International continues to support Terrafarmer’s talent acquisition needs, ensuring they secure the best industry professionals to drive their business forward.
Learn more about our agriculture team, and book a free consultation with them to assess your recruitment needs here.