The Oxford Farming Conference

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?  

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.

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

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.

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. 

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

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

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:

• Professor Sarah Bridle

Chair:

OFC Co-Chair, Barbara Bray

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

Speakers:

• Jack Ward, CEO of British Growers
• Michelle Meagher, Balanced Economy Project
• Simon Bowyer, Concordia
• Andrew Selley, CEO, Bidcorp UK

Chair:

OFC Director, Marion Regan

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

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 

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

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.”

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