Ready for Change?

Weds 27 October 2021, 7pm 

As one of the biggest industry changes to any sector in the UK is rolled out, join in this online event to discuss the impact on the next generation of farmers during National Young Farmers’ Week and just a few days before COP26.

The online debate Ready for Change? is hosted by NFYFC and supported by Defra and NatWest and is the annual AGRI Forum. 

 Key topics under discussion will be: 

• Views from the next generation about their future and the challenges and opportunities in farming and land management
• Discussion about Defra’s plans for a New Entrants Scheme and future support 
• Next generation and YFC resilience and wellbeing 
• Next generation views on climate change and the part they can play in helping to reach net zero whilst maintaining healthy businesses

Book online today to secure your place at this online event.  

This event is kindly supported by: 

Meet the panellists:

Janet Hughes

Janet is Programme Director for Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme – the team that’s responsible for transforming the way we support and regulate farming and the countryside in England. Over the next seven years, the programme will be closing down existing schemes and rules and replacing them with Environmental Land Management, grant support, innovation, R&D support and a new approach to regulation and enforcement. Janet’s job is to make sure the programme delivers all this successfully and in a way that works for farmers and achieves the intended outcomes.

Roddy McLean BSc(Agr) Hons, FRAgS 

Roddy is the director of agriculture at NatWest and is responsible for ensuring the bank’s policy towards agriculture continues to be fit for purpose, supporting the Bank’s 125 relationship managers, keeping them informed on current farming issues and providing advice on more complex agricultural lending propositions. As well as representing the Bank on public platforms.

Andrew Meredith

Andrew has been Farmers Weekly editor since January 2021 after first doing stints on the business and arable desks. Before joining the team, he studied agriculture at Aberystwyth University and then worked on his family’s upland beef and sheep farm in mid Wales as well as at Welshpool Livestock Market as a drover. 

Tom Pope 

Tom is a Reading University agriculture graduate and an agronomist by profession. The current NFYFC Agriculture and Rural Issues (AGRI) chairman, he is also a former Somerset FYFC county chairman and plays an active part in his family’s Somerset arable farm.

Tom has been inspired by his fellow Somerset YFC members. He has made the most his YFC office holder experience and industry opportunities for personal and professional development whilst helping support the next generation of young farmers.

Sammy Allen

Sammy graduated from Harper Adams University with a degree in agriculture and is currently a trainee farm business consultant as well as playing an active part in her family’s mixed Nottinghamshire farm comprising pigs, sheep and arable enterprises.

She is the current NFYFC AGRI vice chairwoman and aspires to help farming businesses become more robust and sustainable for the future.