2019 '˜What's around the corner?' conference for arable growers

This all day conference jointly organised by CAFRE, the Ulster Arable Society and the Ulster Farmers’ Union will provide arable growers with an update on current agronomy and business management issues.

The event organisers have arranged for a variety of top speakers to address delegates on the day.

They are as follows:

Opening address – Guy Smith, Deputy President, NFU

Guy farms a mixed and diversified family farm in north-east Essex. He served for eight years on NFU Council as the Essex delegate. Other NFU positions include four years as a member of the Governance Board and six years as Chair of the NFU Communications Group. In the past Guy has served on the boards of FACE (Farming and Countryside Education), HGCA (Home Grown Cereals Authority) and Landskills New Entrants Committee. He is a founder of the Essex Schools Food and Farming Day. Guy is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate for services to Agriculture from Essex University.

Professor Paul Leinster, Professor of Environmental Assessment, Cranfield University

Professor Paul Leinster CBE has over 40 years of practical experience in environmental management, science, policy development and regulation. Paul has been Professor of Environmental Assessment at Cranfield since October 2015. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of the Environment Agency.

He is a member of the government’s Natural Capital Committee, chairs the BPHA Housing Association and the Bedfordshire Local Nature Partnership and is a board member of Flood Re, Delphic HSE, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Prior to joining the EA in 1998 Paul worked in the private sector for over 20 years. This included BP, SmithKline Beecham and Schering Agrochemicals.

Dr Steven Kildea, Senior Research Officer, Teagasc

Dr. Steven Kildea is a Senior Researcher in the Crop Science Department within the Teagasc Crops Environment and Land Use Programme. Based at Oak Park, Carlow Steven oversees the cereal disease control programme. This includes the development of sustainable control strategies for cereal diseases such as Septoria on winter wheat and Ramularia on barley. The goals of which are achieved through a combination of extensive field trialling and detailed fungal pathogen population analysis. Having originally completed a BAgrSc and an MAgSc in UCD, Steven completed his PhD through the Teagasc Walsh fellowship programme and QUB in 2009

Graham Higginson, Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering, Harper Adams University

Graham Higginson is a Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering at Harper Adams University, the UK’s leading specialist university tackling the future development of food production, animal sciences, engineering, land management and sustainable business. Community and collaboration are key at Harper Adams, meaning everyone, benefits from a close network of knowledge and opportunity exchange.

Having a farming and practical engineering background, allows Graham to bring a wealth of practical engineering problems to his teaching. Graham’s main teaching and research interests are agricultural mechanisation and farm machinery management along with hydraulics and vehicle technology. Recently Graham has started research into autonomous vehicle platooning and potential application to land-based activities.

Martin Lines, Arable farmer and Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network

Martin Lines is a farmer and contractor in South Cambridgeshire, growing mainly arable crops on his family farm, rented and contracted land covering 540ha. He has a special interest in joining farm conservation management into productive farming. Martin is currently running an ELS and HLS agreement on the family farm and two Countryside Stewardship schemes on two blocks of land he rents. Martin supports the delivery of Stewardship Schemes for a number of other local farmers. He is the UK Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network that was launched at the beginning of January 2018. The aim of the network is to help bring together like-minded farmers from across the UK to have a voice and to help, support and learn from each other.

Panel questions and answer session: Environmental management – constraint or opportunity? Will be chaired by Andy Doyle, Tillage Editor, Irish Farmers’ Journal

How to Book your Place?

Conference cost is £25 per person and booking is via the UFU website www.ufuni.org/events

If you have difficulty booking online, please contact Angela Scott at UFU HQ on 028 9037 0222. Note: Places cannot be reserved and payment in full is required at the time of booking by credit or debit card. For conference speakers or facilities queries contact: CAFRE KT admin on 02894426790 or Email: [email protected]