Fact-finding trip to Angus for industry leaders

A leading group of farmers and agricultural leaders from across the UK used a fact-finding visit to Angus farms to scope out the 2018 Oxford Farming Conference.

This year’s Oxford conference chairwoman, Caroline Millar from Balkello, Auchterhouse, took the event’s 10-member board of directors on a tour to some of the progressive and innovative farmers in Angus.

Their trip included a visit to James and Kate Porter at East Scryne Farm at Carnoustie, where they learned more about the county’s vibrant soft fruit sector.

Mrs Millar said the industry needed to consider what needed to change and how farming had to evolve in a new post-Brexit world order.

“The opportunities for our farming sector are huge, but we need to be honest about what changes need to be made for the sector to progress – at a personal, family and business level,” she added.

“We also need change as an industry on all sorts of levels – very obviously with policy, but also in areas like collaboration, diversification and digitisation.”

The 10 board members include RHASS chief executive Alan Laidlaw; Professor Nigel Scollan, director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queens University, Belfast; and Will Surman, director of communications at CropLife International.

Oxford Farming Conference chairwoman Caroline Millar, from Balkello.