Steven Crabtree farms at the Bolton Abbey Estate, North Yorkshire and he Chairs the Charitable Activities Committee at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. Here, Steven explains why he is looking forward to the Yorkshire Farming Conference.
A little over a week ago, I was asked to pose for the camera alongside a rather large tractor at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. This isn’t how you would normally find a hill farmer but this was a special occasion. I’d come down from the farm on the Bolton Abbey Estate to the home of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for the launch of the Society’s new event.
On Wednesday 28 January, the Society will hold its first-ever Yorkshire Farming Conference, a timely event that I’m really looking forward to, and I hope to see plenty of other farmers come together for.
Most sectors of farming are experiencing difficulties and we have to look for ways to move ourselves forward. Everyone is looking at their own position right now and this new conference will inspire us to look at different things and consider new ideas. We can’t afford to leave any stone unturned if we want profitable and productive businesses in the future.
The demise of the Basic Payments Scheme for us, as a hill farm, has been massive. Nearly every hill farm needs some support to keep going. I’ll be heading to the conference hoping to be inspired by the ideas I hear.
Much like the Great Yorkshire Show is about more than showing livestock, the social side of the conference is important too. There will be plenty of networking time to mill around and catch up with people. I’m looking forward to that at the start of a new year, and at just £25, it is hopefully accessible to everyone.
I would like to think that the conference theme, ‘Every Field, Every Farmer’, is all encompassing. Whether you are a farmer in the Wolds or at the top of the Yorkshire Dales, the conference programme and the speakers will deliver something for everyone.
In my role as Chair of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Charitable Activities Committee, I am delighted that all of the Society’s farming networks – Future Farmers of Yorkshire, Women In Farming Network, Yorkshire Rural Support Network, Farmer Scientist Network and Yorkshire Food, Farming and Rural Network – are combining for this event. It will give attendees the understanding, if they don’t know already, what is at the core of what the Society offers all year round.
We have to be joined up in farming now. Historically, it’s been ‘horn versus corn’, but we all need to be going in the same direction. Poor returns in any sector are not sustainable and we need to work together.
It’s definitely a good thing to get off the farm. We get all consumed by everything we’re dealing with and we need to take opportunities like this to learn something new, and there is still no better way, in my opinion, than getting together in-person and having proper conversations. If you come away from the conference with one idea that’s good for your business, it’s been a good day.
Tickets for the Yorkshire Farming Conference are available to purchase online in advance only and are priced £25 + VAT. To buy tickets, for more details and announcements about the conference line-up, visit yorkshirefarmingconference.co.uk.
