January is a time for Conferences and this week The Oxford farming Conference 2025 is taking place
The 2025 conference is taking place from 8 to 10 January 2025. The event will be delivered as a hybrid, with the option to attend physically in Oxford or Online, with all main sessions at the Oxford Examination Schools live streamed for media.
Princess Anne looks set to keep her record as the 'hardest-working royal' as she carried out her first engagement on Thursday, marking her return to royal duties following the Christmas break.
Anne, 74, is the Honorary President of the Oxford Farming Conference and in her duties the royal attended their annual conference. The royal was seen arriving at the conference wearing a green tartan jacket which featured a stunning emerald brooch. Anne also wore a navy skirt and tights alongside a pair of black boots as she greeted representatives.
Oxford Farming Conference
The Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) is a charity and a limited company. The conference itself, which runs in early January every year, has become ever more high-profile within the farming industry, but more importantly to wider audiences and stakeholders. The OFC's mission is to 'Include; Challenge; and Inspire'.
For a comprehensive view of the many aspects of the Conference take a look at the official OFC website
Click on: Oxford Farming Conference
OFC Programme Teaser
WEDNESDAY 8TH JANUARY 2025
OFC25; will start from lunchtime on Wednesday, for those who wish to make the most of their ticket and experience in Oxford. A new session "Inspiring Innovators" will draw together ideas to support the future of agriculture. Papers will be called for late-summer 2024 to select a programme of inspiring speakers.
The OFC and Fieldwork Book Club and a Farmers Weekly Question Time will also take place on Wednesday, hosted prior to the Chairman's Welcome Reception.
THURSDAY 9TH JANUARY 2025 (MORNING): Policy: enabling opportunity
Agricultural policy is in transition, in a world requiring increased food production, with demanding environmental priorities. This creates challenges for governments and farmers, yet also opportunities. This session will cover the major farming political update at domestic and international levels and showcase how farming businesses are responding to these changing drivers.
THURSDAY 9TH JANUARY 2025 (AFTERNOON): Adapting to a changing world
Seasonal extremes and climate change are testing our established farming systems. Yet technological advances and innovations are creating incredible new opportunities. This session will explore our changing natural world, how that impacts on land used for farming and how today's science can help feed tomorrow's world.
FRIDAY 10TH JANUARY 2025: Inspiration from change
Change and adversity can often provide the catalyst for inspirational and influential leadership to flourish. Farming produces fantastic food for increasingly health-conscious consumers. This session will showcase inspiring farmers and food businesses, and people who have seized new opportunities born out of adversity, opportunity, ambition or a simple passion for food.
OFC25 will finish at 3pm.
Farmers Weekly reported
Defra secretary Steve Reed faced a stormy reception at the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) on 9 January, as protesting farmers expressed their deep frustrations over government policies that they say are undermining the agricultural sector.
Outside the venue, the atmosphere was charged with tension, as a row of noisy tractors lined the streets, carrying banners with anti-government slogans.
Meanwhile, inside, Mr Reed's speech to attendees took place in a notably sombre atmosphere, with the minister outlining his long-term vision for UK farming.
The contrast was striking.
Farmers, many from Oxfordshire and Berkshire, had gathered in large numbers to voice their anger, with tractors blaring horns and displaying banners that read, "Honk if you want Starmer gone" and "Labour. We need you to stop killing British businesses".
The protesters were clearly determined to make their voices heard, underlining growing discontent over the government's handling of farming and rural issues.
The focus of their anger was the government's controversial farm inheritance tax (IHT) policy, set to be introduced in April 2026.
Despite their hopes for action, Mr Reed offered no updates on this issue during his 20-minute speech, further stoking frustration among the farming community.
The minister once again blamed the £22bn "black hole" in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government for his own government's decision to make difficult budgetary decisions.
"It meant we had to take immediate tough decisions across the economy to balance the books, including on APR
"We were shocked by the size of the black hole we were left to fill. I'm sorry if some of the action we took shocked you in return.
"But stable finances are the foundation of the economic growth needed to get the economy growing again after it flatlined through a decade of chaos."
'New deal' for farming
Mr Reed attempted to reassure attendees with promises of a government-backed "new deal" for farming.
His speech was delivered with calm and assurance as he spoke of boosting the profitability and sustainability of the agricultural sector.
He highlighted plans to use the government's purchasing power to back British food producers and accelerate planning reforms to make it easier for farmers to build necessary infrastructure.
He also promised to address fair competition within supply chains, with new rules set to be introduced for sectors such as pork and eggs.
There was also some applause from the floor when Mr Reed confirmed that secondary legislation for the Precision Breeding Bill will be introduced to parliament by the end of March, paving the way for farmers to cultivate gene-edited crops that offer improved nutrition, enhanced resistance to pests and diseases, and greater environmental benefits.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said there are positive elements to the announcement but it "fundamentally fails to recognise that the industry is in a cash flow crisis with the lowest farmer and grower confidence ever recorded".
He added: "Devastating inheritance tax changes, national insurance hikes, crippling cuts to direct payments and delays to environmental schemes mean many businesses won't survive to benefit from the 'New Deal'."
Whilst saying it's positive that the government thinks farming should be more profitable and sustainable in the long-term, and that the primary role of farmers is to produce food, he added:
"But how is it going to ensure food production is profitable when thousands of farmers and growers are questioning whether they'll still be in the industry in the next year?"
The English Apple Man Comments
From my Journal, you may think the OFC is all about politics, but with so many brilliant speakers addressing the Conference on so many important subjects the event is a very important forum for spreading new ideas of science and technology in farming.
At the OFC a Tribute to a very special lady.
Caroline Drummond MBE
Caroline Drummond MBE was Chair of the Oxford Farming Conference in 2005. The Conference theme that year was Seizing the Initiative, and the Oxford Union Debate was British farming is good for the environment. Caroline certainly did seize the initiative, in everything that she said and did. As CEO of LEAF, Caroline - and the organisation - was well ahead of its time in championing a more sustainable approach to farming and in harmony with nature.
Being pioneering takes a special kind of determination and personality - Caroline had it and drove LEAF and all that the organisation stood for. She never ever gave up in communicating her thoughts, pushing for change and challenging the status quo. That takes great energy and inner confidence.
Reflections from Will Evans
"If you're lucky, you might meet a handful of people throughout your life who leave an everlasting impression on you. The kind of person whose personality, presence and sheer goodness lift everyone around them up. That was Caroline.
"I'd never met her before talking to her for Rock & Roll Farming, but by the time we'd finished our laughter-filled few hours I felt like we were lifelong friends, and it remains one of my favourite interviews.
That is all for this week
Take care
The English Apple Man