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CEES Agriculture Panel - March 2025

Category
Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies
Date

On Tuesday 18th March, Dr Peter Gittins from CEES hosted an expert panel discussing the challenges and opportunities facing UK agriculture. 

The panel featured a diverse and highly experienced group of speakers, including: 

  • Christopher Price, CEO of the Rare Breed Survival Trust 
  • Tanya Bish, Managing Director of Living Potential Care Farm CIC 
  • Alex Phillimore, Head of Communications and Development at the Farming Community Network 
  • Stephen Curry, Enterprise Ambassador, Director of Upper Calder Valley Renaissance, and host of the Todmorden Agricultural Show 

The session began with each panellist introducing themselves, outlining their professional background, and explaining their connection to agriculture. Peter then moderated a wide-ranging discussion, posing a series of questions to each speaker. 

A central theme of the discussion was identifying the biggest challenges currently facing the agricultural sector. Responses were varied and thought-provoking, including concerns over climate change and its impact on farming and food systems, recent changes to inheritance tax, public understanding of food production, farmer wellbeing, and the soaring price of land. 

Students were then invited to engage directly with the panel during a lively Q&A session. One popular topic was the role of technology in the future of farming. While some panellists highlighted the promise of emerging innovations—such as the "Hands-Free Hectare" project at Harper Adams University—others emphasised that sustainable farming is not always about adopting more technology. In many cases, existing tools are underutilised, and a more measured, context-sensitive approach may be more beneficial. 

The event was very well received, with several students continuing the conversation on LinkedIn by sharing their thoughts and tagging Peter and the panellists. Students also had the opportunity to learn about the economic, social, and environmental contributions that can be generated through rural enterprise—linking directly to ongoing research being carried out within CEES by Dr Gittins on constrained rural entrepreneurship.