Finding positives for farming at Oxford conference

I picked an unusually uncertain time in the history of UK farming to attend my first-ever Oxford Farming Conference, and I was pleased to head back north with a feeling of optimism in the resilience of our industry.

The tone of the OFC was set by the presentation of the Government’s support for the industry by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed. Despite the IHT elephant in the room and the sound of protesting tractor horns in Oxford city centre, the former leader of Lambeth Council made a positive commitment to the statement that ‘food security is national security’.

Food production is at the centre of Labour’s plans for farming. Labour wants to make it easier for farmers to achieve more diversified incomesLabour wants UK agriculture to restore nature in cooperation with production, not in competition with it.

There was considerable talk about the precision breeding process. He talked about supply chain fairness, which I'm very keen to hear more about. There was support for diversification and green project planning, making it easier for rural businesses to connect to the energy grid and encouraging small scale green energy projects. Over the next two years £5 billion will be made available to farming, so all very positive, and if Mr Reed does what he says with half what he said, things look pretty good.

Speeches from the three devolved Ministers very much echoed the Defra message. For me the afternoon’s highlights came from opposite ends of the farming spectrum.

Innovation

Representing the cutting edge of technology in tomorrow’s agricultural landscape, Craig Lewis from Genus PIC spoke impressively about innovation and pig breeding. We heard from one of JCB’s leader how they are going to turn JCB tractors into green energy machines, powered by hydrogen engines which the company is already building. My favoured presentation came from Neil Heseltine a hill farmer from Malham in North Yorkshire, his positive vision for the future of Hill farming is based on SFI as his main driver.

The first day finished with the OFC debate – something of an historic event, held in the heart of this historic centre of learning. This year’s debate addressed the motion that: This House believes that UK agriculture needs more grazing livestock, rather than fewer, to be truly sustainable. It was proposed by Professor Jude Capper, who put an excellent case, backed up superbly by Rob Harvard, an ecologist and owner of the Phepson Angus herd.

Their brilliant argument won the day against the opposition of Henry Dimbleby and Colin Ferguson, confirming my own personal and professional belief that a sustainable national herd plays a vital part in a sustainable rural environment and a sustainable agricultural industry.

Day two started with a partnership event with the RSPB titled ‘Unlocking the business potential of nature friendly farming’ and it was encouraging to hear that, despite the wildlife and ecology agenda, food production and farming continue to be at the heart of the management of our countryside.

The panel comprising an ecologist, a farmer, and Arla Foods talked about farming challenges, focusing on the impact of weather on arable farming practice, soil health, hedgerows, clean water and ditches, and much more. The ecologist talked about weather in terms of climate change and suggested the biggest threat to biodiversity is global expansion in food production, concluding that the UK is the best place to produce more food, as sustainably as possible. The Arla representative said that attracting and maintaining the right people in farming and food production was a big challenge, and that diversity of thought is required.

My next inspiration of the day came from a session demonstrating the power of food to connect people. Titled ‘Where's the Beef’ this featured Anthony Murphy, from the Beefy Boys, telling the story of four British guys – two DJs, one pig farmer and a gas engineer – who started up a such a successful burger business they won burger competitions in America.

On the same theme, we heard inspiring stories from Dominic Waters from Food is Care, Dee Woods from the Food Ethics Council, and Nick Saltmarsh, a food diversity pioneer and MD of Hodmedod. Dom Waters is from a deprived area of the city he lives in, what he calls a “food desert in the middle of the garden of England”.

Diversification

He stressed that to connect with that deprived consumer we need to stop talking about consumers and producers and remember that people feed people. Farmers, producers, retailers, consumers, we're all people trying to feed each other.

The” Inspiring Farmer” session showcased resilience and brilliant food producing farm diversification businesses built from scratch. Liz Haynes from Wells Farming, the hugely successful dairying operation based not far from the H&H HQ here in Carlisle talked about neuro diversity in the dairy industry, and her own diagnosis with ADHD. Carolyn Payton, who farms with husband Alex, talked about their diversification from their livestock, potato, and arable growing operation to creating a meat plant based in Girvan - “We Hae Meat” Burn’s themed from the heart of Burns country.

My final experience of the 2025 OFC began with Tesco launching the Greenprint Report they have produced in collaboration with Harper Adams University School of Sustainable Food & Farming. Based on consultation with more than 300 UK farmers on the future sustainability of farming, the Tesco report highlights that farmers want the Government to set clear, long-term policies and provide innovation funding to support farming and food production through the transition to Carbon Net Zero.

Ashwin Prasad, Chief Commercial Officer for Tesco, talked about new initiatives in research methodology to measure carbon emissions, and Tesco’s plans to use two low carbon concept farms in its UK supply chain to monitor and measure the impact of sustainable innovation.

Michael Lee, the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Harper Adams, made the fundamental point very clearly that a sustainable industry has to be based on profitable farming businesses. The future of farming is in the hands of people who are inspired to drive it forward and feed a growing global population without destroying the planet.

“Farmers are the solution”, said Michael Lee. “Famers are the custodians of the land, and they can make the difference.”

This I believe was the perfect final point, to end my first Oxford Farming Conference.

-ENDS-