Taking place on the 29th of February, the Suffolk Farming Conference will return to Trinity Park Events Centre, Ipswich, with the theme ‘How to Thrive, Not Just Survive’.
The headline speaker will be Henry Dimbleby, MBE, co-founder and former chief executive of the Leon fast food restaurants, as well as a former lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, serving under Michael Gove, Theresa Villiers, George Eustice, Ranil Jayawardene and Therese Coffey.
Fram Farmers is organising the event, alongside the Suffolk Agricultural Association (SAA) and specialist accountancy firm Scrutton Bland. The conference will also offer the opportunity for members to share knowledge and exchange ideas with their peers.
“We are delighted to once again be bringing this event to Suffolk, and to have partnered with SAA and Scrutton Bland to bring farmers together and support them in achieving high productivity alongside a profitable farm business,” said Fram Farmers CEO Andrew Knowles.
Bill Baker, chairman of the SAA and a second-generation farmer, will introduce the biannual event, while Nick Banks, a partner at Scrutton Bland, will lead the topic of finance. Nick will be joined by Paul Harris, a private client tax partner, who will look ahead to the general election.
Covering a range of farming issues and solutions for them will be Grace O’Dwyer, deputy head of agriculture at HSBC, while chief economist and global strategist at ADM, Marc Ostwald, will discuss global macroeconomics.
The theme of talent and training will be led by Stephen Jacob, chief executive officer at TIAH and will include a ‘labour review’ from Anthony Gardiner, communications director at G’s Fresh.
Advice on ‘how to attract and retain staff’ will come from Tom and Karen Halton of Halton Farms Ltd, and Harper Adams University graduate Elizabeth Tree will talk about ‘what are we looking for?’ when finding new talent.
The final topic of digital innovations will be chaired by Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-TechE and will welcome guest speaker James Forrest of RH Forrest and Co who will present ‘too much data, not enough information’.
If too much information is weighing you down, Kevin Gooding, chief executive officer at Diometer, will provide ‘solutions to data overload’.
Finally, Andrew Williams, former farm manager at Home Farm Nacton, will round off the Conference by sharing his experience of ‘automation on-farm’ followed by a concluding talk from Wendy Houston, Fram Farmers chairman.
Although in-person tickets to the event have now sold out, free online tickets are available and accessible to all who wish to view the livestreamed event. Online tickets can be found here.
