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Representatives from Wales YFC were invited to attend the annual NFU Conference held at ICC in Birmingham. It was an excellent two-day conference, and the theme was British Food: What plan for future?

The conference began from an address from the President Minette Batters.  She noted that during the two days she was expecting to hear how politicians and regulators plan to secure a vibrant and profitable future for food production across the UK.

The conference started with the political address by the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, then followed by Jack Bobo, Director Food Systems Institute, University of Nottingham giving a presentation on British Food Systems in the Global Context.  We had a session on the future for British food and the panel were Sarah Bradbury, CEO of the Institute of Grocery Distribution, Professor Susan Jebb OBE, Chair of Food Standard Agency and Kate Nicholls, OBE CEO UK Hospitality.  Following that we had a presentation on Farming and the Environment from the Chair Alan Lovell and finished the day with commodity sessions.

We had a great time at the Dinner with Nigel Owens, OBE as the guest speaker.  Nigel was excellent and the whole room was quiet whilst listening to him speak. Also, congratulations to Sharon Hammond from Radnor for winning the Meurig Raymond award.

Day two began with a presentation with Joe Twyman Co-founder Deltapoll on ‘What the countryside thinks: the political landscape in Britain’s rural seats’, followed by a political hustings’ session and political reaction views from the farm.

NFU President Minette Batters closed the Conference and thanked the members for all their work and support.  The conference thanked Minette by a standing ovation of her dedication and leadership as President of NFU during her 6 years in term.   She certainly is an inspiration to us all.

It was a very informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable conference and we learned and networked with different people within the industry.