Another Year, Another Oxford Farming Conference
Agri-TechE The 2025 Oxford Farming Conference delivered its usual mix of passionate debate and fresh policy announcements, plus for this year, a large tractor demonstration outside.
Inside, attendees grappled with familiar challenges, namely government policies and climate change. And the audience was left in no doubt about the government’s vision for farming needing to be underpinned by innovation and technology, following the keynote speech by the DEFRA Secretary of State, the Rt. Hon Steve Reed MP.
From watchwords such as “co-design” to “farmer-led trials,” the Secretary’s speech announced the three strands of the new Farming Plan and reiterated the government’s ambitions of fostering a resilient agricultural sector.
Enabling Regulation for Precision Breeding
For the innovation community, the standout announcement was the commitment to introduce secondary legislation for the Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Act by March 2025. This long-awaited step aims to provide vital additional detail of the Act and address concerns that its absence has stifled progress in applying the power and potential of this technology.
This much needed legislative detail will hopefully build investor confidence in both R&D and commercial opportunities as well as reinforce the UK’s leadership position in agricultural innovation.
Helping Farmers ADOPT New Technologies
The Secretary of State also confirmed the launch of the ADOPT (Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies) fund this spring. As part of the Farming Innovation Programme, ADOPT will fund farmer-led trials to bridge the gap between between new technology development and real-world farming applications.
After many years of farm-focused innovation, this could finally provide the much-needed opportunity for end-users to literally “kick the tyres” of new technologies.
Let’s hope it contains a built-in mechanism to close the virtuous circle of farmer feedback to inform and iterate the development process. Without this, there’s a real danger of disillusionment if technologies prove unfit for user purpose or lacks the robustness needed for on-farm conditions.
A Three-Pronged Plan
The government’s farming plan outlines three key priorities:
- Food production at its core – ensuring a resilient, domestically-focused system to feed the nation.
- Supporting diversification of income – enabling farm businesses to innovate and remain profitable during challenging times.
- Not pitching Food and Nature against one another – recognising that environmental stewardship underpins long-term food security.
The Bigger Picture
As expected, the Holy Trinity of food production, environmental stewardship and human nutrition – and how to reconcile their various drivers and demands – were at the heart of many conference presentations. There was the usual smattering of science, inspiring farmers and international case studies.
Steve Reed acknowledged the anger among rural communities, who feel misunderstood and neglected. Notably, the Secretary also shared his shock at the £22bn financial black hole left by the previous government (bigger than the cost of the entire police service for England and Wales). While he apologised for the tough decisions this has necessitated, he emphasised the need for stable public finances to support growth and resilience in the farming sector.
We hope that agriculture won’t be sacrificed as a bargaining chip in future trade negotiations. The Secretary’s commitments and ambitions for the sector hinge on agri-food being protected, rather than traded away to achieve broader trade objectives.
Agri-TechE Member, G’s Growers, donated food for catering at the conference.
Did the Conference deliver?
So, did this year’s Oxford Farming Conference bring radical new ideas to the table? Probably not…
Was there a strong sense of urgency and a call for leadership and action? Absolutely.
Are we seeing “green shoots” of recovery? Not yet.
Post Overview
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