There are three themed discussion groups with relevant lead industry speakers and facilitators. After the chairman has opened the morning and introduced the speakers, he/she then invites each industry expert to sell their subject, giving the audience further opportunity to decide which discussion group to attend. 

 

The audience is then asked to split into three groups and the morning’s discussion is recorded by facilitators and fed back to the audience when it has reassembled. Industry speakers are invited to sum up their conclusions from the discussions before the chairman closes the event. 

 

The themes of the discussion groups are chosen by the NFYFC Agriculture & Rural Affairs Steering Group and agreed by the national council. The event attracts wide media coverage, provides the opportunity for members’ opinions to be noted and instigates new projects for NFYFC.

Previous Forum outcomes

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2008 Forum results in How to Make a Difference guide

The guide was an outcome from the 2008 ARAC Forum when NFU/CLA office holders and politicians advised young farmers to make sure their voices were heard. The document, written in association with the NFU, is a direct response and outcome from the ARAC Forum and is a guide on the fundamentals of campaigning and lobbying from a local to national perspective. It is designed to help YFC members think about their own democracy as well as the democracy they live in.
 

2007 Forum results in Biofuels tour

A study tour was organised by NFYFC in April 2008 in response to a request made at the 2007 Agriculture & Rural Affairs Forum at the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs’ (NFYFC) Annual Convention.

Members who took part in a discussion group on biofuels led by Somerset farmer and renewable energy champion Archie Montgomery, requested further information on systems in Europe. In answer to this request NFYFC, in conjunction with the NNFCC, organised a two-day study tour of German farming systems incorporating renewable technology.

The trip included visits to a decentralised oil mill in Semlow to see how farmers are encouraged to work together to bulk up oilseed volumes for a local oil processing plant; an on-farm dry-digestion plant at Hermannshof to learn about systems running solely on energy crops and biodegradable waste material as well as an on-farm wet-digestion plant. The Hermannshof visit showed how the plant generates power for the national gas grid and also uses 100% of the heat in a wood drying plant.

The group also visited the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (FNR), the German Agency for Renewable Resources. Staff from the FNR and the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC), gave a series of presentations providing an update on current activity and future potential in the biomass, biofuels and biogas sectors, in Germany and the UK.