11 & 12 January 2023

10am - 5pm Wed and 10am - 4pm Thurs

NEC Birmingham

11 & 12 January 2023

NEC Birmingham

* Please note these are the 2021 speakers, updated lineup coming soon

Keynote Theatre

Across both days of the show, the Keynote Theatre will present inspirational, expert-led sessions from some of the industry’s leading organisations and most reputable professionals.

    • Wednesday

      Keynote Speaker: Annabel Sunnucks

      Annabel Sunnucks - Glamping at Rankins Farm

      Breaking the barrier of fear for diversification

      11.00 - 11.30

      Branching out into something new, when all you’ve ever known is farming can be a daunting thought. This seminar will cover our experience of breaking the barrier to new business opportunities, moving away from a family tradition of decades into a new unknown industry. Touching on the different options and support available, the challenges and opportunities we faced through our transformation from an unstable, unpredictable business to the complete opposite.

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      Keynote Speaker: Dani Kilsby-Steele and Louise Newton

      Dani Kilsby-Steele and Louise Newton - Bidwells

      Diversification - Breathing life and value into rural places and spaces

      11.45 - 12.15

      Now more than ever, there is a growing need to diversify. We will show you how to identify opportunities to utilise your existing land and buildings, whilst also considering the wider strategy of your holding, finding innovative and viable solutions in both the short and longer term. We will discuss projects where we have obtained challenging and unusual planning consents, adding value and creating alternative means of income.

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      Keynote Speaker: Brady Last

      Brady Last - EY Breakthrough Incentives

      Cash for Innovators

      12.30 - 13.00

      Why farming qualifies for innovation? How do you make a claim? What are the benefits?

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      Keynote Speaker: Ian Bell

      Ian Bell - FOLK2FOLK

      How to Fund Your Diversification Project

      13.15 - 13.45

      Find out how others have diversified and how they funded it. FOLK2FOLK specialise in enabling farm and rural businesses access the finance needed for diversification projects, offering business loans from £100,000, and using land or property assets as security. Ian Bell OBE, Head of Farming & Rural Engagement, will showcase projects including glamping sites, farm retail and barn conversions into holiday lets.

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      Keynote Speaker: Louise and Richard Pullan

      Louise and Richard Pullan - Breaks Fold Farm

      Looking To The Future Through Diversification and Environmental Farming

      14.00 - 14.30

      An insight into diversifying your farm or land with hospitality businesses. A look into exempted organisations such as The Freedom Camping Club. Outside the box thinking is the name of the game in diversification. How environmental farming is part of the future, a look into Yorkshire Water’s Beyond Nature Scheme. Richard and Louise will share their journey from struggling farm to thriving diversification, and all the ups and downs along the way.

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      Keynote Speaker: Kelly Chandler

      Kelly Chandler - Kelly Chandler Wedding Consulting

      Does YOUR Property or Land Have What it Takes to Host Weddings?

      14.45 - 15.15

      Wedding venue expert and consultant, Kelly Chandler gives you an open-book run through into what the modern wedding couple expects and demands of a potential venue and how the industry works to help you explore your potential place in it.

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      Keynote Speaker: Stefania Bennett

      Stefania Bennett - Bennetts Willow Barn

      Diversifying our dairy farm: my experience

      15.30 - 16.00

      Farming is not easy these days, and dairy farming is a real struggle. To keep our fifth generation farm farming, we knew we needed to diversify. Cue Worcester Glamping in 2013, a milk round in 2020, and an ambitious farm café and events venue in July 2021. These diversifications all have one aim: to help us keep farming by giving us a direct source of sales with the general public.

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