My Farm 2100: A Glimpse into the Future

​This milestone event, themed “My Farm 2100: A Glimpse into the Future,” will gather farmers and growers together to look to the future of agriculture.

Morning session

Jack Bobo – Your Farm 2100

Jack Bobo is the executive director of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies. Previously, he led the Food Systems Institute at the University of Nottingham. Jack’s extensive experience spans roles as the director of global food and water policy at The Nature Conservancy, CEO of Futurity, a food foresight company, and as a senior advisor on global food policy at the U.S. Department of State.

Jack is the author of Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices, a book that unpacks how our food environment has fueled the global obesity crisis and highlights the role of behavioral science in tackling food policy challenges. Known for his expertise in global food systems, Jack has delivered over 500 keynote speeches across 50 countries, inspiring audiences on topics like food security and agricultural innovation.

Jack holds a J.D., an M.S. in environmental science, a B.S. in biology, and a B.A. in psychology and chemistry, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to reshaping food policy and sustainability.

Prof Dr Rogier Schulte – Resilience is the new efficiency

Chairholder of the Farming Systems Ecology group at Wageningen University and Research. Director of the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms.

Rogier has over 25 years of experience in leading research on a sustainable future for farming and food. Together with a diverse range of stakeholders, he specialises on the ‘radical redesign’ of food systems around the world, so that they are ready for tomorrow’s challenges.

Starting at Teagasc in Ireland, he has been looking for on-farm innovations around the world, that his team has brought together in the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms.

He teaches the next generation of decision makers on the lessons learnt from these farms in Wageningen’s master’s programme in resilient farming and food. He is sharing the same insights with the current generation of decision makers in the Lighthouse

Farm Academy.

Prof Chris Elliot – Food supply chains

Chris is the founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast and is a Honorary Professor there now. He is also professor of food security at Thamassat University in Thailand.

He has published around 600 peer reviewed articles relating to the detection and control of agriculture, food and environmental related contaminants. Chris led the independent review of Britain’s food system following the 2013 horsemeat scandal. He now acts as a scientific advisor for a range of United Nations agencies, governments and industries on a range of food security topics.

Over the years Chris has developed a high level network of collaborators across Europe, the United States, Middle East and Asia. He is a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Biology. Chris has received numerous prizes and awards for his work such as the Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Prize and an OBE in 2017. He was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020 and became Honorary President of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology in 2023. Afternoon session

Joe Stanley – The challenge of sustainable food production: Can farming save the planet?

Joe Stanley, MRASE ARAgS, is an experienced farmer and conservationist and since 2021, head of sustainable farming at the GWCT’s Allerton Project, a research and demonstration farm on the Leicestershire/Rutland border which has been investigating sustainable farming and landscape management since 1992.

Joe is also active in the wider agricultural industry, acting as county chair of Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland NFU and as the NFU’s environment representative for the Midlands. He is a regular columnist for Farmers Weekly and Countryside among other publications, and author of ‘Farm to Fork: The Challenge of Sustainable Faming in 21 st Century Britain’ released in 2021. In 2020 he received the NFU’s national ‘Meurig Raymond Award’ for his industry advocacy, followed by associateship of the Royal Agricultural Societies in 2022. He is also a former trustee of the Henry Plumb Foundation.

Abi Reader – My future farm

Abi Reader is a third generation mixed farmer, farming in partnership with her parents and uncle in Wenvoe just outside Cardiff.

Goldsland Farm is home to 200 milking cows, 100 sheep, 20 beef cattle and 120 acres of arable. The farm has also recently started an agroforestry trial site and set up a small scale horticulture venture. Abi is the current NFU Cymru deputy president, co-founder of Cows on Tour, an Open Farm Sunday host and Woman Farmer of the Year 2024 with National Women in Agriculture Awards. In 2019 Abi was awarded an MBE by the Queen for services to agriculture.

Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more information about our workshop sessions. It is expected that tickets will sell out quickly, use the following link to book your place www.ufuni.org/events-training. YFCU members can book their place directly through the YFCU website at a discounted rate.