OFC 2014: Opportunity Agriculture, but who will fund it and how?

The core questions at the heart of the next Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) will be: where are the opportunities in agriculture? How can they be funded? And how should farms be operated for the future?

Commenting on next year's event, which runs from 6-8 January 2014, Adrian Ivory, Co-Chairman of the 2014 Conference said: "Driving the debate will be the OFC's sixth piece of industry research which investigates the structure, processes and relationships needed to establish a truly competitive UK agriculture sector beyond the next decade."  

"The research report we've commissioned is likely to be controversial, because it highlights the need for changes to how farms are operated and funded, some of which will be unpalatable to those who prefer working within the status quo," he adds.

The research project has been produced for the OFC by a Bidwells led consortium, sponsored by Burges Salmon, Syngenta and Volac.

Opportunities for agriculture cannot be grasped unless the political environment is conducive to doing so; so having firsthand access to politicians is a key part of Oxford. Both the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Cioloş, and the Secretary of State for Defra, Owen Paterson, will deliver papers at the start of an important political year for farming. They will be joined by Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture who was recently involved in CAP negotiations under Ireland's EU Presidency, and Peter Kendall, NFU President.

The OFC prides itself in bringing inspiring business operators and leaders to the platform; those joining 2014's line-up just happen to be doing so in the rural economy. They include Hans Henrik Koefoed , CEO of Ingleby Farms & Forests; a group of family farms in Australia, New Zealand, South America, Romania and the United States. This session will include Chris Musgrave, Managing Director of Musgrave Management Systems, who manages four UK estates, and by two young Scottish businesswomen - rural tourism operator Caroline Millar and dairy farmer, Sally Wilson.

Other speakers include: Forbes Elworthy of Craigmore, the New Zealand farming investment company; Gerry Moye, President at COBB, the global poultry genetics company; GeorgeFreeman MP and Simon Blackmore from Harper Adams University College.

The Oxford Union Debate will see two politicians debate the motion: "This house believes that green energy is not worth the carbon it takes to produce." Proposing the motion is Roger Helmer, UKIP MEP, and opposing the motion is Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party.