Cirencester Conference 2010: What will land management mean in 2020?

British farmers face considerable challenges over the next decade – but this year’s Cirencester Conference could help them to take best advantage of future opportunities. Olivia Cooper reports.

Agriculture is changing fast – and unless farmers are prepared to embrace the future and balance comprehensive societal demands, they risk getting left behind. But what does the future actually hold – and how can you plan ahead in such volatile times?

It is these fundamental issues that this year’s Cirencester Conference aims to unravel on Tuesday, 30 November, in a debate involving expert speakers and industry analysts. Entitled 20:20 Vision: What will land management mean in 2020?, the conference will examine the future of land management amid conflicting demands for food, energy, water and biodiversity. Targeting landowners, farmers, land agents and other rural professionals, it will explore the impact of impending legislative changes, global views of land tenure, and how the industry must change to shape the future of British land management.

“Society’s demands on farmers get wider and wider,” says Professor John Alliston, director of development at the Royal Agricultural College.

The most immediate and pressing issue affecting farmers is the Common Agricultural Policy review, which will shape farm support and environmental schemes after 2013.

“There is a conflict of opinion insofar as what we need and want,” says Prof Alliston. “Farmers think production of food is most important, but some others feel we have made considerable progress on environmental issues and would not want to give away those gains. I think we will end up with a happy medium.

“Over and above all that, there are exciting opportunities with waste management and energy production – and we need to play a greater role in the management of water. Farmers will have to get their cost structures right, and look for efficiency of production by adopting every technology available to them,” he adds.

“Investment has been quite tricky over the past decade, because many farms have not been making enough money to reinvest. But now there are some opportunities, and forward-thinking farmers will be planning for the future. These are the people who are going to drive the wealth of the rural economy – it is hugely important and hugely exciting.”

David Sherborn-Hoare, senior lecturer in real estate and land management, says the role of chartered surveyors and estate managers is changing, and the industry must adapt quickly.

“Our profession can be pretty anachronistic in the way it goes about things, and it is under threat – if we are not very careful the role of rural surveyors could be overtaken. But we are the only profession which truly understands the finance, the property, and the law, of managing estates. We need to get a better understanding of what our clients want and need, and how to deliver that in the future.”

In a bid to enlighten farmers, agents and landowners about what the future might hold, speakers will cover topics from CAP changes and conflicting demands for land use, to lessons to learn from history and international farming. The line up includes MEP Richard Ashworth; Poul Christensen, chairman of Natural England; Mark Thomasin-Foster, honorary president of the European Landowners’ Organisation; and consultants from a number of leading chartered surveyors.

“Land managers need to look at what they are trying to achieve, and consider the most important issues that will affect the achievement of those objectives,” says Mr Sherborn-Hoare. “This conference will give people the opportunity to take away important messages and use them to shape the future of their own businesses.”

Book your place now

Tickets cost £99, which includes lunch. A £10 discount is available for former students of the college.

The pre-conference dinner, held at the college on Monday, 29 November, costs £30. Speaker is Farmers Weekly columnist and Hampshire farmer Charlie Flindt

To reserve your place, call 01285 652531 or complete the form below.

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Send to: Juliet Baxter, Royal Agricultural College, Stroud Road, Cirencester, Glos GL7 6JS

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