Daniel Zeichner MP, confirmed as the conference’s keynote speaker, is set to kick-start the day’s first session on Trade – Challenges and Opportunities with a powerful message to local farmers and food producers.
Mr Zeichner said: “I am delighted to be meeting farmers and land managers at this very testing time for everyone involved in farming and food production.
“I will be reaffirming Labour’s commitment to make, buy and sell more in the UK, hugely important, as food security becomes ever more significant in an uncertain world.”
Mr Zeichner, Shadow Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and MP for Cambridge, will be opening the Trade session scheduled to start at 9.15am at the conference on 30th November at the Norfolk Showground.
Mark Nicholas, Managing Director, Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, said: “I am delighted that Shadow Minister Daniel Zeichner MP has agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Norfolk Farming Conference. We are thrilled with our line-up of speakers at the conference, which is seeing ticket sales far exceed expectations.
“We are looking forward to hearing Mr Zeichner open the first session with what promises to be an interesting commentary on the tension of free trade agreements and the agricultural sector.
“The entire day promises to offer some exciting discussion and debate of the topical issues of the agricultural industry and the challenges faced by our farmers.”
The conference is being co-organised by RNAA, one of the sponsors together with the Brown&Co, Birketts, Lovewell Blake, Norfolk County Council, NatWest and AF.
Charles Whitaker, Managing Partner, Brown&Co, said: “There has been a major upheaval in British politics over recent months and an apparent lack of policy direction from Defra at a time of what is widely accepted as a global and UK food crisis (availability, cost of production, climate emergency.)
“As a result, there has never been a greater need for a sense of balance in agriculture and environment policy, trade engagement with the EU and clear direction for our region’s farmers and growers.
“Therefore, we are delighted to have the Shadow Minister Daniel Zeichner MP address the conference alongside key speakers on trade, environment, water resource, policy and case studies on production from three key regional farm businesses.
“It is perhaps symptomatic of the current government’s lack of awareness of the impact caused by the invasion of Ukraine on the huge costs of production inflation on food and ag and how that influences land use and UK food production, that Defra was unable to find a speaker for this important farm policy conference.” To book tickets to the Norfolk Farming Conference and for more information visit here.