A student's view of The Oxford Farming Conference

Agriculture student Lauren Mackinley-Amos writes about her experiences as a scholar at the Oxford Farming Conference.

 Oxford Farming Conference 2025: 'Facing change, Finding opportunity' 

The Oxford Farming Conference brought together a wide range of people to discuss and learn about facing change and finding opportunity. From our current secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, to scholars - including Harper Adams students - to delegates within the agricultural industry.

At Harper Adams, ‘facing change and finding opportunity’ is a huge part of the curriculum, educating students on what is to come and how to find new opportunities.? 

As an industry, there have been a lot of significant changes over the last few years including the change of BPS to SFIs and the new 20% inheritance tax on farms. The Oxford Farming Conference gave a huge insight into a range of people’s lives and how they dealt with change, both good and bad, by finding new opportunities.

Having the opportunity to attend and meet some of the speakers, all while helping as part of the events team, was a huge honour and highlights what Harper Adams can offer to students outside of the university walls.

It was interesting to hear the Secretary of State, Steve Reed, speak about how farms can diversify to make more income and how they can become more regenerative to help the environment, alongside acknowledging how people in rural communities feel misunderstood and disrespected by politicians. 

I also had the opportunity to meet Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, and listen to her speech. I had the opportunity to enter the Oxford University debating chamber and listen to a debate on ‘UK needs more grazing livestock, not less’ - the debate won to the Ayes by 7 votes. The debate raised a lot of interesting points from both sides and the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Harper Adams, Professor Michael Lee, who also attended the conference, made some very significant points from the floor.

The conference not only highlighted what opportunities farmers need to take, but it also some of the areas where people do not have opportunities to take on. Dominic Watters spoke about his experience living in a council estate as a single father and his inability to easily access fresh fruit, vegetables and meat and how this needs to change. 

The final day included some inspiring stories, including two amazing women who sadly lost their husbands, one to cancer and one to suicide, and how they took that experience and turned it into an opportunity to raise awareness and prevent anyone else from having to go through what they did. 

One of the most important messages I took from the conference was to take hold of opportunities when you can, especially with so much changing in the world around us.? 

Attending the conference has helped us students see the agricultural industry in a new light and take home a vast amount of knowledge to apply to our work now and in the future. We would like to thank Harper Adams and the OFC25 for giving us this amazing opportunity!