This year’s event, titled ‘Securing the Future of Welsh Food’ will be held at the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells from 10am on Thursday 7th November and will focus on the need to secure sustainable food systems.
Quick links
- Agenda
- Speaker biographies
- A message from the Director
- Registration
Register today: NFU Cymru Annual Conference 2024
Agenda
10:00 – 10:05 |
Opening video |
10:05 – 10:20 |
Opening address Aled Jones, President, NFU Cymru To include the NFU Cymru/Wynnstay Sustainable Agriculture Award presentation |
10:20 – 11:10 |
Keynote political address
Address followed by Q+A Chaired by Aled Jones, President, NFU Cymru |
11:10 -12:00 |
Securing sustainable and resilient food systems
Chaired by Rachel Lewis-Davies, National Environment and Land Use Adviser, NFU Cymru |
12:00 – 13:00 |
The food session: Opportunities for Welsh producers
Chaired by Dylan Morgan, Deputy Director and Head of Policy, NFU Cymru |
13:00 -14:00 |
Lunch |
14:00 – 14:50 |
The Political landscape: Implications for food and farming
Chaired by Huw Thomas, Political Adviser, NFU Cymru |
14:50 – 15:45 |
Securing and developing markets: The Irish experience
Chaired by John Mercer, Director, NFU Cymru |
15:45 – 16:00 |
Close of conference
|
Speaker profiles
Aled Jones
NFU Cymru President
Aled has previously held a variety of positions across the industry, including holding the post of Chairman of milk recording company Cattle Information Services (CIS) for seven years and being a trustee of Holstein UK for eight years.
Huw Irranca-Davies MS
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Welsh Government
Huw worked for many years in public and private sector leisure management and as a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education before entering politics.
In February 2002 he was elected as the Labour MP for Ogmore. He was duly elected to the Assembly (now Senedd Cymru) in 2016 representing Ogmore.
Huw was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs in March 2024 and was later appointed Deputy First Minister in September, in addition to retaining responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs matters.
Professor Tim Lang
Emeritus Professor of Food Policy, Centre for Food Policy, City University of London
He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. His latest book is Feeding Britain (Pelican pb 2021). He’s spent the last two years researching the state of UK civil food resilience for the National Preparedness Commission.
Katie Palmer
Programme Manager, Food Sense Wales
Katie is one of the founding Directors of Veg Power and helped co-found the School Holiday Enrichment Programme, Food and Fun. She’s also a member of the Conscious Food Systems Alliance. Katie has a Masters in Nutrition and a Masters in Food Policy and has worked in both the private and public sectors.
Professor Susan Jebb
Chair, Food Standards Agency (FSA)
Susan has a long-standing interest in the translation of scientific evidence into policy. She was the Science Advisor to the Government Office for Science Foresight report on obesity in 2007 and an advisor to Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy (2020-2021).
She has previously chaired the cross-government expert advisory group on obesity (2007–2011), the Department of Health responsibility deal food network (2011–2015) and public health advisory committees for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2013-2018). She was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to public health.
Shelagh Hancock
Chief Executive Officer, First Milk
Prior to her current role, Shelagh held several senior executive positions across the UK dairy industry, including at the farmer-owned co-operative Milk Link (which merged with Arla in 2012) and a family-owned business, Medina Dairy. She originally trained as an animal nutritionist and worked for more than 10 years in the agricultural supply sector.
Dr Matthew Wall
Associate Professor, Politics, Philosophy and International Relations, Swansea University
Following a PhD in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin in 2011, Dr Wall held postdoctoral research posts as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Wall’s research focuses on the intersection of electoral politics and digital technologies, and he has published over 25 original research articles in globally respected peer-reviewed venues.
John Murray
Director of Food, Beverage & Horticulture Sectors, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
John joined from Kerry Group (an Irish multinational dairy, ingredients and taste business) where he held senior roles in commercial and strategy development across their European business. Prior to this, John worked in specialist dairy sales, retail meat procurement, and agri-food public communications. He is an Agricultural Science graduate, and hails from southeast of Ireland (Waterford).
Abi Reader
NFU Cymru Deputy President
The farm is home to milking cows, sheep, beef cattle and around 120 acres of arable. Abi is a co-founder of Cows on Tour, an Open Farm Sunday host and a former NFU Cymru Wales Woman Farmer of the Year. In 2019 she was honoured by the Queen with an MBE for her services to agriculture.
A message from the Director
NFU Cymru Director John Mercer said: “Each year, we receive great feedback for the calibre of speakers we are able to attract to NFU Cymru Conference, our 2024 line-up promises to be one of our best events to date, given the speakers who have agreed to join us this year.
“We are especially pleased to be receiving a keynote address by our Cabinet Secretary, Huw Irranca-Davies MS. At such a crucial time for Welsh farming we look forward to hearing about the progress made on the Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals and Welsh Government’s work on key policy areas including bovine TB and water quality regulations. At a time when farming is being asked to deliver so much in terms of food security, nature and climate, we need Welsh Government to put policies and adequate budget in place that will allow us to continue to deliver on these objectives.
“NFU Cymru Conference is a popular event among the membership and so I encourage interested members to confirm their attendance as soon as possible.”
Register today
Members wishing to attend the conference can register on the link below. Alternatively, call the NFU Cymru office on 01982 554200 or email [email protected]
Register today: NFU Cymru Annual Conference 2024