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Farmers glimpse into future
Hundreds of farmers were given an optimistic view on the future of food production from deputy president of the NFU, Meurig Raymond, when they descended on Bishop Burton College for the annual Masstock (now known as Agrii) SMART Farm event.
Mr Raymond, who is currently up for re-election, spoke to farmers and growers on the need to increase food production as we move towards 2050, when they will be feeding in excess of nine billion people worldwide.
“Agriculture is now recognised as the biggest industry in the country,” said Mr Raymond. “But to deliver the demands of society over the next 20 years it’s important that we encourage young people into the industry.
“I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen here at the college in terms of attitude and enthusiasm.
“I’m extremely impressed by what I’ve seen on the farm also – the design of the farm buildings and the condition of the stock – it’s very professional.
“To be here at Bishop Burton, which has 3,500 students, bodes well for the industry and for getting food and farming back on people’s agenda.”
Mr Raymond delivered his presentation to a packed house as he spoke about the NFU’s ethos of producing more, but impacting less.
He said: “It’s extremely important that we have a leading supplier of agronomy advice organising events such as these, which highlight the industry and the process of smarter farming and fit neatly with the NFU’s vision of producing more and impacting less.
“I’m delighted to see the investment that Agrii are making in research and development, which is becoming more important as Government and society invest in research themselves and channel, through knowledge transfer, the results back to the farmers.
“Companies like Agrii have a huge part to play in this communication of knowledge as their 1,000 agronomists are the ideal channel to communicate that message of producing more, but impacting less.”
Bishop Burton College principal Jeanette Dawson chaired proceedings and was pleased to be hosting once again.
She said: “The college is delighted to be hosting its third Agrii event and pleased that each year it gets bigger and better.
“A fantastic programme of very relevant speakers and some cutting-edge farm machinery on display has ensured a fantastic turnout – indeed many of our students are among the crowds, and I’m sure all of the people in attendance will take some very useful information away with them.”
Appearing alongside Meurig Raymond at the event was Nick Oakhill, senior trader at Glencore who gave his view of arable markets at home and abroad, and Bill Angus of Angus Wheat Consultants who examined how a better understanding of wheat genetics can benefit growers in the future.
Visitors were also able to view a wide range of the latest farm machinery and meet representatives of companies involved in machinery, services, agrochemical manufacture, plant breeding, precision agronomy, mobile seed cleaning, power and energy.
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Weather for Beverley
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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