The organisers of the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) have announced that the 2021 Conference, scheduled for January at Oxford University, has been cancelled.
OFC Chairman, Sally Williams, says, “Amidst the Covid uncertainty for people, travel and gatherings the OFC Council has talked long and hard about how we best deliver a successful and focussed event for our 75th conference in 2021."
She added, “We run the event at break-even or a slight loss, so the uncertainty of booking the Oxford University only for us to have to cancel due to the pandemic is something we felt we could not support.
“Instead the event will be replaced by a one-day online conference on Thursday 7 January 2021, which will include politics, inspiring farmers, the Frank Parkinson Lecture, and the OFC Debate, providing a provocative virtual experience with the opportunity for you to engage through online networking and Q & A”.
She added, “Through the use of digital tools, we will be able to provide a rich experience bringing together international speakers who we might otherwise have not been able to include.”
To commemorate the influence of the event and the speakers that the Conference has attracted over the year, they are launching OFC Bitesize – a webinar series that will pick a theme from a past conference and debate its sentiments.
Hosted on the first Thursday of every month from June to December 2020, they will take place for one hour from 12pm, drawing opinion from a host of different businesses and geographies.
The first, on Thursday 4 June 2020 will revisit the 1939 Conference which investigated the Business Organisation of Farming, a topic that is of critical relevance today as we face an agricultural transition period that shifts responsibility for farm viability from the government to farm businesses themselves.
What role should supply chains have in farm business viability? Are the supply chain provisions of the Ag Bill an opportunity, or a threat, to UK farming businesses? Our panel will explore the topic along with farm business structures, agricultural subsidies and what the Business Organisation of Farming means in 2020 and beyond.
Speakers:
- President of the Tenant Farmers Association George Dunn
- Institutional Agricultural Investor and Nuffield Scholar Angus Selby
- Scottish Land and Estates CEO Sarah-Jayne Laing
- Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon
Chair:
- OFC Director and Head of Rural Research at Savills UK, Emily Norton
Full details and to register