LYNDSAY Chapman, chief executive at the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock, and Mark Bridgeman, the CLA’s deputy president, will be joining a range of farmers and industry experts to speak at this year’s Northern Farming Conference.

Under the theme: Sweating the Assets, leading farmers and academics from across the country will be at Hexham Auction Mart on Wednesday, November 6, to examine what the future may hold for farmers, particularly in light of the current political turbulence and uncertainty.

Ms Chapman joined CIEL in 2017, prior to which she spent 25 years in the UK dairy sector with positions including Agriculture Director at Muller and Agriculture and Communications Director for Dairy Crest. Lyndsay is an enthusiastic champion for the promotion of British food, farming and the wider environment.

Mr Bridgeman, due to be elected CLA president in November this year, has managed the Fallodon Estate on the Northumberland Coast near Alnwick for more than 13 years. The Estate consists of an in-hand farm, let farms, woodland, biomass, tourism, let properties and housing developments.

Joining them will be:

• Alex Brewster, livestock farmer and Nuffield Scholar from Perthshire, as well as a director of the Scottish Organic Producers Association (SOPA)

• Mark Suthern, Barclays’ managing director and national head of agriculture which focuses entirely on farming, landed estates, agri-tech as well as energy and the environment

• Rupert Wailes Fairbairn, rural divisional director at Lycetts, who also has a 1,000 acre farm in North Northumberland, which also includes a recent shepherd huts business.

Full biographies of speakers available on the www.northernfarmingconference.org.uk website.

Conference chairman, and director at Strutt & Parker, Matthew Curry, said: “There seems to be no immediate abatement in the current political turmoil and its associated level of uncertainty over the impacts on the farming and rural industry.”

“The conference gives a great opportunity to listen to the views of leading farmers and industry leaders on their opinions and experiences to become more resilient against a backdrop of socio-economic turbulence.”

Now in its tenth year, the Northern Farming Conference aims to give farmers the chance to consider how best to progress their businesses over the next few years.

The conference is a joint venture between, Armstrong Watson, Catchment Sensitive Farming, the CLA, Gibson & Co Solicitors, Hexham and Northern Marts Strutt & Parker, and Womble Bond Dickinson.

For more information, please visit: www.northernfarmingconference.org.uk or telephone: 01748 90 7070. To get the latest conference news and updates, follow @NorthFarmConf on Twitter.