Are you aged between 21 and 35 and trying to forge your career in farming?

If you are, then you have an added incentive to take part in The Great Debate because, in conjunction with Farmers Weekly the Oxford Farming Conference is awarding free 2008 conference places to five 21-35 year olds who submit the best contributions to this debate.

It is people like you who represent our industry’s next generation and these places are sponsored by Bayer CropScience, a company with a passionate belief in training and mentoring our industry’s young people.

The Oxford Farming Conference is one of the principle annual conferences in the agricultural industry, attracting some 500 delegates, including over 250 farmers, every year.

Great debate is one of the dimensions that you can guarantee both within the speakers’ sessions and with the people you will meet at the conference’s lunches, dinners and fringe meetings. It’s a fantastic place to pick up ideas for your business and network with like-minded individuals.

Oxford always attracts inspiring speakers who range from the politicians driving the industry on a local and global level through to young, entrepreneurial farmers who have evolved their businesses to adapt to an increasingly consumer-driven future. 

The 2008 Conference will be held from the 2-4 January 2008 at the Examination Halls of Oxford University. The theme, ‘A Climate of Change: Agriculture, the Solution, not the Problem’, is wholly appropriate for the industry in the next phase of its evolution.

Matthew Naylor will be one of the speakers, along with DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn and Jack Wilkinson who is president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers.

For more details about the Conference go to www.ofc.org.uk

THE PRIZE

• A conference ticket for both days of the event (including lunch), of particular interest will be the ‘Fresh Thinking’ panel of young farmers chaired by the BBC’s Declan Curry
• An invitation to attend the Speakers’ and Scholars’ reception on 2 January 2008
• A ticket to the pre-conference dinner on the night of the 2 January 2008
• Accommodation (including breakfast) for the 2 and 3 January in the halls of one of the famous old Oxford University Colleges
• Dinner with Bayer CropScience on the night of the 3 January 2008
  

HOW TO ENTER

All you need to do to enter is to mark your entry with your age and some contact details when you submit your views to the debate. Please note, if you take part in the debate on the website your username will enable us to contact you by email so there is no need to submit more contact details.

The winners will be chosen by Farmers Weekly and the Oxford Farming Conference and will be notified by mid-December.