Farmers face a battle for survival and must embrace change, the chairman of the East of England Farming Conference has claimed.
Tom Martin, who farms arable and sheep in Cambridgeshire, believes the current rate of technological and societal change is presenting a raft of new challenges for today’s farmers.
He said: "In the current environment of severe uncertainty, pressure on prices and the potential withdrawal of Government funds, can we afford not to invest in ourselves?
"We face in farming what evolutionary biologists might term a ‘mass extinction’, and only the fittest will survive. Farming, like rugby, is a ‘thinking man’s game’, so let’s focus on learning, let’s invest in ourselves, and let’s share what we know; we are in this together."
With a tagline of ’Make it Happen’, this year’s conference takes place on November 14 at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.
Farmers Guardian editor Ben Briggs is the event’s opening speaker.
For ticket information visit eoefarmingconference.co.uk/tickets
November 14, 2019
East of England Showground, Peterborough, PE2 6XE
The 5th annual East of England Farming Conference will take place on November 14, 2019 at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.
The conference will welcome some of agriculture’s finest and most inspiring minds to talk about agri-politics, best practice, exciting opportunities and the industries future, as well as providing plenty of networking opportunities.