Northern Roots Forum 2026 – Hosting Agriculture Conference
In January 2026 I got the opportunity to host the Northern Roots Forum 2026 in Kultuurikatel Tallinn. I really enjoyed this event because it was not straight up business or tech. The conference focused on regenerative sustainable agriculture and that is a topic I have very limited experience with.
That’s why I loved it, I had to stay on my toes to learn about these topics and keep up with the speakers and the audience. I had to listen closely, write my own notes and not be scared to ask the questions which might seem fundamental but help the audience grab onto the concepts.
In addition, what I took away is many of the fundamental leadership topics I practised with Combat Ready still applied. Below I have pasted a LinkedIn post I made, comparing the laws of combat leadership to growing a healthy crop.
You can show leadership to your colleagues, your boss, your family, your friends but did you know you can show leadership to your plants?
We had a fascinating afternoon session at Northern Roots yesterday and I asked an audience question to Dr Harriet Mella “whats the best thing I can do for my crops health?”
I expected an answer about soil or nutrients or type of crop to plant
Instead her answer was “Ask someone to show you your blind spot”
Sorry?
Dr Mella continued “Ask someone to point out what you are missing about your crops health. As we have heard today, many of the answers are “it depends” as there so many factors in living biology. The best thing you can do is get a different perspective”.’
That’s when it clicked for me: soil or nutrients or a method of planting are all tactics. The doctor was instead proposing you zoom out and look at your strategy.
And that’s how this connects to the 4 laws of combat leadership “Detach: Step back, relax & look around”. In whatever you are doing it’s easy to put your head down and get caught in the details. You are pinned down by a firefight from the enemy. You are battling the onslaught of emails and slack messages each day feeling like you are not making progress. Or for a farmer, spending time pouring over data and updates and finding some new trick to improve the crop.
Step back, relax and look around. Do whatever that means in your context. Pull back from the front line and take a higher position to see the whole battlefield. Spend an hour each week doing a full review of all your commitments to understand your “knowledge worker battle space”. Make sure you are building relationships with other farmers and sharing your wins and struggles. Have the humility to take input and let someone show you a new perspective.
You can show leadership to your plants also!