Please note that this event is now full.

If you would like to join the conversation and missed the chance to reserve a seat, please turn up on the day. We will fit you in if there is space.

To help navigate decisions about how land is used in England, government has committed to introducing a Land Use Framework. But what is this, and what does it mean in practice for farm businesses?

FFCC hosts a conversation between farmers and policymakers exploring how a Land Use Framework needs to work in order for farm businesses to flourish and for government to achieve its targets for climate and nature, food security, productivity and rural regeneration.

Chair: Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

Speakers:

Thalia Baldwin

Thalia is the Director of the Geospatial Commission, which is an independent Expert Committee within the UK Government’s Cabinet Office, tasked with advising the government on priorities for improving the UK’s location data, running the public sector’s key geospatial data contracts and developing and overseeing implementation of the UK’s national geospatial strategy. Prior to this, Thalia established and led HM Treasury’s digital policy team, where she was responsible for the approach to public spending on digital technology and infrastructure.

Rachel Fisher

Rachel Fisher is Deputy Director for Land Use Policy at DEFRA. She is responsible for developing and delivering environmental planning reform policy, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, and Biodiversity Net Gain. Prior to this she was responsible for regeneration, investment and infrastructure policy in the Cities and Local Growth Unit at MHCLG / BEIS. She has held a variety of roles in policy and public affairs across the built environment industry including the National Housing Federation, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), Design Council and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. She is an associate member of the RTPI and a Fellow of the RSA.

Professor John Gilliland

Professor John Gilliland is a farmer from Northern Ireland, the Director of Global Agriculture and Sustainability at Devenish and Professor of Practice in Agriculture and Sustainability at Queens University Belfast. A former Director of the Oxford Farming Conference, he is also chair of the innovative, farmer-led, carbon farming project, ARC Zero. Formerly, John chaired DEFRA’s Rural Climate Change Forum for seven years; helped set up SRUC’s Carbon Management Centre; and chaired the writing of the N. Ireland Sustainable Land Management Strategy, which led to the creation of N. Ireland’s Soil Nutrient Health Scheme, a £45m investment to baseline very field tree and hedge in N. Ireland.

Liz Bowles

As Chief Executive Officer at the Farm Carbon Toolkit, former Associate Director of Farming and Land Use at the Soil Association and manager of one of the one of the largest pedigree flocks of Shropshire sheep in the UK, Liz brings over 30 years of experience of the practices, policies and economics that underpin the food and farming sectors. She is also a former Nuffield Scholar and Director of the Oxford Farming Conference as well as a Council Member of the Rare Breed Society.

Dame Fiona Reynolds

Dame Fiona is Commissioner at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission and FFCC Cambridgeshire Co-Chair, Chair of the National Audit Office and Chair of the Governing Council of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU). Prior to this, Fiona was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from 2012 to 2021, having previously served as Director-General of the National Trust from 2001 to 2012. During her time as DG she made the Trust warmer and more welcoming, bringing the houses to life and raising the profile of the Trust’s work in the countryside.

The registration link for this event will be available to all Oxford Farming Conference 2023 ticketholders via their ticket confirmation email. Doors open from 12 noon for networking, event starts at 12.30pm

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