The Oxford Farming Conference

Wednesday 5th January, 2022

08:00
Fringe - CAAV - Farming and Land Use: Having Control

We face changing economics, policies, markets, technologies and climate and new demands on land use from nature and carbon.  Now outside the CAP, these might prompt much change in who is farming what land in which ways.  Those decisions are personal – what might we do?  

 

 

 

09:00
Fringe - Trinity Ag Tech - How to capture the value from natural capital

New markets are opening for farmers to benefit from new income streams through trading carbon credits with additional options for biodiversity and water protection co-benefits. But these raise many questions including the robustness and independence of on-farm calculation methodologies and metrics. Members of Trinity AgTech and Trinity Natural Capital Markets (NCM) will host an open discussion on some of the key questions farmers have been asking about these exciting opportunities.

  • Dr Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny, Trinity Group Founder and Executive Chairman
  • Tom Allen-Stevens, Director of Communications and PR (chair)
  • Richard Williamson, Senior Managing Director
  • Dr Alasdair Sykes, Managing Director – Sustainability
  • Juan Palomares, Managing Director – European Union
  • Louisa Knocker, Senior Manager
10:00
Fringe - Fera - How to Future proof your land in response to changing social, economic, and environmental pressures

As leaders in the agrifood research environment, Fera Science works closely with pubic and private sector partners to deliver solutions to the challenges facing our future foodscapes. During this session, Dr. Glyn Jones and Guy Thallon will outline Fera’s multi-disciplinary approach to ensuring the resilience of your landscapes and future options for revenue creation.

11:00
Fringe - Barclays/DEFRA - Developing incubator models to support new entrant innovation

Environment and economic challenges suggest a need for innovation in land-based businesses. This session. Will discuss how we can build the capacity of new entrants to develop new entrepreneurial models and improve their opportunities to access land and finance to make them a reality.

This session is subject to time changes.

12:15
OFC AGM

Hosted on Zoom, please access your delegate login area for the link.

13:00
Fringe - Breedr - Building a Resilient British Livestock Industry

10 year vision of what will be required of farmers and the supply chain in the future to meet the challenges of environmental pressures, subsidy changes and international trading relationships, as well as the innovation and technology that is driving this change, from data, to genomics to regenerative farming.

 

  • Ian Wheal - Founder Breedr (Chair)
  • Clare Hill - FAI farming
  • Phil Stocker - CEO National Sheep Association
  • Phil Bicknell - Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Livestock.
13:00
Scholar & Inspire Programme Session - Leadership

This session is open to Scholars and Inspire Programme delegates only. It will run for one-hour via Zoom. Time subject to change, as we confirm the new online programme for 5 January 2022.

14:00
Fringe - Food, Farming and Countryside Commission - Can I have some more: what's on the menu for 2030?

Assumptions over future demand dictate the immediate decisions we face in this critical moment for food and farming. But does a growing population always predicate increasing demand for food production? And will this always necessitate an increase in supply? 

With Covid and the climate emergency challenging many of our most closely-held beliefs, this debate shines new light on the important, and often overlooked, assumptions that underpin the future of farming.

We unpick the issues involved and ask what this could mean for the diversity and viability of farm types and systems across the UK. What could be the unintended consequences of certain pathways? What are the ‘no-regrets’ options that become clear? How can UK nations find a broad pathway to ensuring food security whilst tackling the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, addressing the toll of poor public health, and ensuring a strong, green economy? 

FFCC hosts a panel of thought leaders as they review possible routes to a truly resilient future.

This session is subject to time changes

15:00
Fringe - Agritech - Meet the UK Agritech centre

The four UK Agri-Tech Centres of Agricultural Innovation are the result of a unique collaboration between UK Government, academia and industry to drive greater efficiency, resilience and wealth across the agri-food sector. They are supported by the UK’s strategic innovation agency, Innovate UK.

Session title: Meet the Agri-Tech Centres: Innovation for Productive and Sustainable Farming

Purpose: to showcase the work of the Agri-Tech Centres in supporting farming innovation that improves efficiency, productivity, profitability and sustainability.

Summary: A recent survey revealed that while nearly 80% of farmers are using agri-tech to support their productivity and profit, just 35% of are confident in technology’s ability to help them meet their environmental responsibilities. This OFC fringe session with the UK Agri-Tech Centres - Agrimetrics, Agri-EPI Centre, the Centre for Crop Health & Protection (CHAP), and the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) – will highlight work to help producers successfully balance their commercial priorities with the need to protect and enhance landscapes and nature.

 

Programme

3pm: Welcome and introduction from Chair, Phil Bicknell, Head of Business Development, CIEL

3:05pm: CHAP (Crop Health & Protection): Dr Harry Langford, CHAP’s Innovation Network Lead, will share preview highlights from an upcoming industry report on the global warming potential of UK arable and horticulture crops, and mitigation practices to reduce these.

3:10pm: Agri-EPI Centre: Featuring a short video providing an example of successful, Agri-EPI-supported innovation on a beef farm, Technical Director Dr Trish Toop and Business Development Director Lisa Williams will describe how Agri-EPI is driving forward agri-tech innovation.

3:15pm: CIEL (Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock): Exclusive insight into CIEL’s next phase of Net Zero and Livestock work, assessing how farmers can reduce emissions. CIEL Chief Executive Lyndsay Chapman, and Head of Business Development Phil Bicknell will share plans for the work, which  includes exploring the impact of individual mitigation measures and looking at how they can be successfully combined at farm level.

3.20pm: Agrimetrics: Our sector desperately needs better access to more data; however, many are understandably reluctant to share their data. Agrimetrics Chief Commercial Office Rebecca Geraghty will discuss whether an Agrifood Data Marketplace is the fairest and most effective way to accelerate innovation by incentivising equitable data sharing.

3.25pm: Q&A with speakers, chaired by Phil Bicknell

3:45pm: Thanks and close by Phil Bicknell and Dr. Jenna Ross, OFC Director.

 

16:00
Fringe - Anthesis - How a global farm metric can drive resilient and profitable agriculture

To deliver resilient and profitable agriculture, we need greater alignment of metrics and methods for measuring the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the food system. This session will look at the power of on-farm sustainability metrics and how they can be used by farmers to drive performance, brands to protect the security of supply, and consumers to make more informed sustainable food choices.

17:00
How far can farming go to reach net zero?

This session will run from 17:00 to 18:00

In this session, WWF-UK will chair an explorative discussion on the opportunity farming has to reach net zero, providing a fresh perspective on this increasingly important topic.  

The discussion will be based around two new research reports by expert consultants Eunomia and Green Alliance, both commissioned by the WWF & Tesco Partnership and exclusively launched at OFC 2022. 

The reports explore the capacity of agriculture to reduce emissions and sequester carbon, and how these two pillars of net zero link to nature, land use and emerging carbon markets for agriculture. Therefore, this session will be a great precursor to the 2022 OFC Report - Natural Capital: The Battle for Control session at 11:55am on Friday 7th January. 

Thursday 6th January, 2022

08:00
Online Live Stream Commences

Our online stream will commence at 08:00 so you can get logged-in, and check your settings ahead of starting at 08:15. If you have purchased a ticket, you will find full links and passwords to access the live sessions in your member area. Click “Login” (top right corner). 

If you have any problems or need technical support, please email marketing@ofc.org.uk 

08:15
Opening Address and Welcome

OFC Co-Chairs Sarah Mukherjee and Barbara Bray open the 2022 Online Oxford Farming Conference

08:35
Trade & Global Session

UK agriculture is facing a year of momentous change in terms of its place in the trading world. What are the challenges and are we up to the task? How can we plot a path to success? 

Keynote: Jason Hafemeister Secretary’s Trade Counsel, US Department of Agriculture

Pre-Recorded Contribution: Minister Damien O’Connor, Aotearoa NZ Agriculture

Live response to questions following pre-record: Mel Poulton - New Zealand Special Agricultural Trade Envoy

Keynote: Charlie McConalogue, Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Chair:

OFC Co-Chair, Sarah Mukherjee

10:10
National Session

Formally known as the Politics Session, we hear from UK Agricultural Ministers as they set out their plans for 2022 and beyond. 

Speakers:

  • George Eustice, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, England
  • Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Wales
  • Edwin Poots, Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Ireland

Chair:

OFC Director, Christopher Price

11:00
Secretary of State Speech - George Eustice

George Eustice will address delegates. 

11:40
Frank Parkinson Lecture

Hero or villain? How farming holds the key to net zero.

Farmers may be some of the most climate aware people in society, and often bring long-term perspective and a strong desire to pass on the wonders of the natural world to future generations. Yet with increasing awareness of the climate impacts of food, farmers are in the cross hairs. 
 

In this lecture, Professor Sarah Bridle will summarise the latest evidence on how different foods contribute to climate change, and illustrate how this can add up using examples for typical UK meals. She will then outline the potential for changes in production practices to reduce their impact, and how the stewards of the land hold the key to realising net zero and beyond.

Speaker:

Chair:

OFC Co-Chair, Barbara Bray

13:30
Lessons from science - routes to resilience

The 2022 Science Lecture will explore what agriculture can learn from science in order to be resilient.

Speaker:

  • Dr Catherine Nakalembe - NASA Harvest; Assistance Research Professor, University of Maryland

Chair:

OFC Director, Jenna Ross

14:30
The Squeezed Middle

This session will look at "Balancing power in sustainable and responsible supply chains"

Speakers:

Chair:

OFC Director, Marion Regan

15:45
Inspiring Farmers

Always one of our most popular sessions, we hear from four inspiring farmers from all four corners of the British Isles, about how they’ve forged their own routes to resilience

Speakers:

  • Simon Best - Acton House Farm, Poyntzpass, Northern Ireland
  • Kate Rowell - Hundleshope Farm, Scottish Borders, Scotland
  • Zanna Joice - Uphouse Farm, Norfolk, England
  • Rhys Williams - Gwynedd, Wales

*Joyce Campbell was previously listed to join this session but unfortunately is now unable to attend.

Chairs:

OFC Directors, Will Evans and Ben Taylor-Davies

17:00
HRH The Princess Royal, OFC

OFC Honorary President, HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne will reflect on the afternoon programme and conference theme, "Routes to Resilience"

19:00
OFC Union Debate

Motion: This house believes the demise of the family farm has been greatly exaggerated

Proposers

  • Jyoti Fernandes - agroecological farmer based in Dorset, and chair and campaigns coordinator of Via Campesina & Land Worker's Alliance.
  • Paul Kelly - managing director, Kelly's Turkeys in Essex.

Opposers:

  • Joe Stanley - Head of Training and Partnerships at the Game and Wildlife Trust’s Allerton Project.
  • John McCallister - Head of the Land Mobility Programme, YFCU and Ulster Farmers’ Union and farming in County Down.

Chair:

2021 OFC Conference Chair, Sally Williams

Friday 7th January, 2022

08:00
Online Live Stream Commences (Final Day)

Our online stream will commence at 08:00 for the last day of OFC online.

If you have purchased a ticket and today is the first time you are joining us, you will find full links and passwords to access the live sessions in your member area. Click “Login” (top right corner). 

If you have any problems or need technical support, please email marketing@ofc.org.uk 

08:15
Opening Session

OFC Co-Chairs Barbara Bray and Sarah Mukherjee welcome delegates back for the last day of the conference.

08:30
The Farm of the Future

Family ownership is not the only model of farming. In this session, we hear from three global experts - from the US, China and EU - on the relevance of the concept of ‘family’ in agriculture around the world. Following our global speakers, we will be joined by a panel of UK farmers to discuss future farming business structure and function.

Speakers:

  • Sarah K Mock - UK - Agricultural and Rural Issues Writer and Researcher
  • Alan Matthews - EU - Professor Emeritus of European Agricultural Policy, University of Dublin Trinity College
  • Stephan Petermann - China - Founder MANN and Professor of Fine Arts’ Visual Arts Innovation Center, Central Academy in Beijing

Panel:

  • John Pawsey - Farmer - Shimpling Park Farms Limited
  • Sarah Bell - Farmer and Advisor - Scott & Scott (Ayston) Ltd & S E Bell Agrifood Ltd
  • Will Case - Farmer - Cumbria

Chair:

OFC Director, Liz Bowles

10:00
The National Food Strategy

Henry Dimbleby launched part one of the National Food Strategy at the Oxford Farming Conference in 2020, and returns to join us online to discuss the strategy two years on. 

Speaker:

Henry Dimbleby

Chair:

OFC Co-Chair, Sarah Mukherjee

11:00
Dame Ellen MacArthur - Navigating towards a nature positive food system

Dame Ellen will be in conversation with OFC Co-Chair Sarah Mukherjee MBE about her journey from world-class sailor, to the founding of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and its mission to accelerate the transition to a circular economy designed to eliminate waste, circulate products and materials, and regenerate nature.

Earlier this year the Foundation launched the Big Food Redesign which looks at how food brands and retailers can make nature-positive food the norm. It sets out how, by rethinking the ingredients they use and how they're produced, they can provide choices that are better for customers, better for farmers, and better for the climate and biodiversity

Commenting on her topic at the Oxford Farming Conference, Dame Ellen said:

“With 45% of GHG emissions and 90% of biodiversity loss coming from the way we make and use things, including food, we need solutions that can be scaled fast. The circular economy gives us a framework to redesign and transform our food system into one that is nature-positive.

“Food companies and retailers embracing circular design for food to rethink their ingredient selection and sourcing decisions will afford farmers the opportunity to increase yields and profitability, reduce GHGs and biodiversity loss, and create resilience against the effects of climate change.”

12:00
The 2022 OFC Report - Natural Capital: the battle for control

Natural Capital - the battle for control -sets out four scenarios for the future of land use in the UK, from free-market speculation at one end, to organisation and even nationalisation at the other. Our panel will reflect on its implications for the industry and their hopes for the future of agricultural policy in the home nations. Supported by Savills & WWF / Tesco.

Presenter:

Dustin Benton, Green Alliance

Panel:

  • Minette Batters, NFU
  • Tanya Steele, WWF

Chair:

OFC Director, Emily Norton

12:30
Conference Close

OFC Co-Directors Barbara Bray and Sarah Mukherjee close the 2022 conference and virtually hand over to the 2023 Chairman. 

13:00
Scholar Session

This session is only open to OFC Scholar delegates. Please join the Zoom link you have been sent via email. 

Logo

OFC25 will take place from 8th to 10th January 2025, in Oxford and Online.

A programme teaser and tickets are now available by visiting our dedicated conference section.

x