Serving the farming industry across East Anglia for over 40 years
Environmental and financial sustainability will take centre stage at the 2024 Larking Gowen Autumn Farming Conference on Tuesday, 5 November 2024. After two successful... Autumn conference to focus on sustainability

Environmental and financial sustainability will take centre stage at the 2024 Larking Gowen Autumn Farming Conference on Tuesday, 5 November 2024.

After two successful annual events at venues in East Suffolk, this year’s conference will take place in the west of the county, at All Saints Hotel, Fornham St. Genevive, Bury St Edmunds, which is easily accessible to delegates from a wide area.

Aimed at farmers, growers and landowners, as well as the agricultural and rural business sector, this insightful event is being organised by Larking Gowen, a major regional independent accountancy partnership and one of the UK’s top 40 accountancy firms, in conjunction with the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the membership organisation for owners of land, property and businesses in rural England and Wales.

Hosts

The event will be hosted by Bruce Masson, the Larking Gowen partner who originated it, supported by two of the firm’s other partners Steven Rudd, Head of the firm’s Farms and Rural Business team, and Laurie Hill.

“This year’s Autumn Farming Conference will highlight the options which are available to farmers to help them put their businesses on a sure footing for the future,” Bruce states. “The emphasis will be on delivering practical information and advice in the areas of environmental schemes and reporting which delegates can apply to their own situation.

“The extreme weather-related challenges which many farming businesses faced last season resulted in lower yields and profitability, which were compounded by volatile input and commodity prices. The closure of the Basic Payment Scheme in 2023 in favour of delinked payments from 2024 to 2027 exacerbated these issues.

“The financial impact of these events is now being felt by farming businesses, which to recover and remain viable will need to maintain a high degree of flexibility, optimise their use of available resources and focus on long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes.

“We have seen a surge of interest in agri-environment initiatives, but before committing to any changes farmers must consider all the options and discuss them with a professional adviser as schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will be right for some but not for others.”

Chair

Chaired by CLA East Director Cath Crowther the 2024 Autumn Farming Conference will include presentations from a range of speakers, all experts in their respective fields. Collectively, they will provide a valuable insight into where we are as an industry, the headwinds facing the farming sector, the opportunities for businesses which position themselves correctly, together with an insight into the future direction of travel. Full details of the topics, speakers and sponsors are being finalising and a comprehensive list will be announced shortly.

Sponsors

The headline sponsor, Alan Boswell Group, is an insurance and financial planning group with 40 years’ experience. One of the largest independent insurance brokers in the UK, it has 400 members of staff at eight offices in Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. The conference is also being supported by Ashtons Legal and Virgin Money. Anglia Farmer magazine is proud to be the event’s main media partner.

The speakers:

                     

From left to right: Bruce Masson, Cath Crowther, Laurie Hill and Steven Rudd.

Abigail Maynard

Abigail Maynard, Agricultural Environmental Consultant, Divisional Partner, Brown & Co, will talk through the myriad options which are available when it comes to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) schemes. The government defines BNG as a way of creating and improving natural habitats as well as making sure development has a measurable positive impact (net gain) on biodiversity, compared to what was there before. Based in Norwich, Abigail is one of the firm’s agri-environmental specialists, with extensive knowledge of agri-environmental and Countryside Stewardship schemes. She has successfully applied for Mid-Tier, Higher-Tier, Water Capital Grants and Wildlife offers, including arable, mixed and lowland grassland stewardship agreements.

Michelle Masson

Michelle Masson, a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) who is trained in Landed Estates and associated business, will discuss the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of ‘Sustainability & Carbon Reporting’, a new area for many in the farming industry, with advice on how to get started and planning for the future. Michelle has worked across many sectors in recent years providing support in Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) reporting and developing baseline carbon reporting. Currently working in one of the country’s largest let estates, with a unique portfolio of land, property and assets, she will discuss Sustainability v ESG, rapid changes in reporting requirements, identifying risks and opportunities, together with customers requesting Sustainability Policy and Carbon calculations. Michelle will also discuss organisational boundaries in this regard, Scope 1,2 & 3 emissions, baseline/reporting period, materiality of influence and impact, accuracy and repeatability of data, where to start, conversion factors and sequestration.

The initial presentations will be followed by an ESG panel discussion before coffee is served at 10.30am.

Sam Steggles

Sam Steggles, owner of award-winning farm business The Goat Shed at Honingham near Norwich, will outline his inspirational diversification journey over the last 15 years, charting how he went from dreaming about becoming an artisan cheese producer to running an award-winning customer-focussed farm-based business. Underlining the fact that there are always opportunities ‘out there’ this year has seen the biggest evolution in the Goat Shed’s history, its farm shop doubling in size to offer a new deli, bakery and butchery, with a new paddock area and maize maze added to help connect visitors to the land and animals.

Edward Vipond

Another inspirational journey has been that of Edward Vipond, Farms Manager for Troston Farms Ltd at Stanton in Suffolk. Since 2015 when Edward joined Troston Farms, which is owned by the Claas family, one of the world’s largest farm machinery manufacturers, he has managed significant change and growth. Winner of Farmers Weekly’s ‘Farmer of the Year’ and ‘Farm Manager of the Year’ Awards in 2021, Edward will outline how Troston Farms is positioning for the future by using technology to help balance the requirements of food production and the environment

Bruce Masson

The final presentation, by Alan Boswell Group and Bruce Masson of Larking Gowen, will highlight how to navigate the plethora of red tape surrounding Inheritance Tax and succession planning, a topic which has become very topical since the current government came to power. Given that the Autumn Budget will be on Wednesday 30 October 2024 there will likely be plenty of questions from delegates on the impact of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s measures.

Tickets for the Autumn Farming Conference cost £25 (£15 for students) and can be booked online. The event will start with arrival/registration from 7.45am. Bacon rolls and drinks will be served on arrival. A hot lunch will be served at 1.30pm and the event will conclude at 2.30pm.  For full details and to secure your ticket, visit www.larking-gowen.co.uk/AFC

Charity partners for the 2024 Autumn Farming Conference are YANA (You Are Not Alone), which provides mental health support for the farming and rural community, and RABI, which provides practical, financial and emotional support to the farming community. All profits from the event will go to these much-admired organisations.