SEMINARS
2020 seminar programme
Bringing together practical know-how and scientific research from UK farmers and industry experts, The CropTec Show’s extensively researched seminar sessions are specifically designed to provide an ideal platform for growers to future-proof their business.
SEMINAR ONE
Crop nutrition
24th November 2020
12.00 – 1.30pm
SESSION CHAIR: MARK TUCKER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND HEAD OF AGRONOMY, YARA UK
Sponsored by 
While there is a need for more climate-friendly fertiliser regimes, productivity and fertiliser efficiency remain key to profitable farming.
Prof Roger Sylvester Bradley, ADAS Head of Crop Performance
Nutrient management strategies have hitherto focused on building soil fertility and health, then trusting that national recommendations and nutrient products work.
With increasingly urgent economic and environmental pressures, and evidence of widespread nutrient deficiencies, analysing crop nutrients at harvest and benchmarking the results could be vital extra tools in recognising local peculiarities and maximising each crop’s output and efficiency.
In the increasingly uncertain but ever interconnected world of 2020, collecting and sharing field-specific data can support better nutritional decision-making. It can also build towards better fertiliser guidelines.
Phil Jarvis, Farm Manager, The Allerton Project (GWCT)
While farming’s role in greenhouse gas emissions is widely acknowledged it is not well understood.
What is being done to help growers better understand how to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to sequester carbon in their soils? Where do they start on the journey to net zero and what are the practical steps they can take now?
Anke Kwast, Head of product and application R&D for the climate neutral roadmap and business support
Yara is working towards making carbon-free fertiliser and renewable hydrogen is the major enabler for the manufacture of CO2-free or ‘green’ ammonia, which in turn is the key ingredient for ‘green’ fertiliser.
Why is ‘green ammonia’ important for the future of British farming? What particular issues or challenges will it help farmers address? What might surprise farmers about it? What are Yara’s current plans and timescales with regards to green ammonia?
SEMINAR TWO
Policy
25th November 2020
12.00 – 1.30pm
SESSION CHAIR: ABI KAY, FARMERS GUARDIAN CHIEF REPORTER
Speakers: Gail Soutar, NFU Chief EU and International Trade Adviser; Martin Lines, Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) chairman; George Cook, Senior Farm Business Consultant, Andersons
From post-Brexit trade deals to net zero and profitability, Gail Soutar, Martin Lines and George Cook will join host Abi Kay to engage in a panel discussion to explore how farmers can best prepare for the changes ahead, and what opportunities it presents for the cereals sector:
Panel discussion on:
New trading arrangements are set to affect the UK cereal sector. How likely is it that trade deals, with the EU and US for example, will have a big impact on the sector, and in what way? What are the opportunities for the sector in a post-Brexit world? And how will farmers be affected on the ground?
With the industry having set a target to be net zero by 2040, what practical steps can farmers take to implement sustainable changes? What opportunities does the net zero challenge present for farmers? Are farmers prepared? What is a farmer-led initiative such as the NFFN doing to address these climate challenges?
Farm profitability is set to be affected by new policy and trading arrangements: who will be the winners and losers from ELMs policy changes? How can farmers maximise farm profits in a post-Brexit world?
Followed by an exclusive interview with Gavin Ross, deputy director of Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs), to discuss what we can expect from the new scheme and when.
Gavin Ross, Head of Environmental land Management, Defra
With BPS being cut from next year and the UK set to roll out its future agriculture policy under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, in 2024, how will farmers be paid across the transition? What opportunities will the new scheme bring for the cereal sector? How will the pilot work? And is ELMs as radical as originally promised?
SEMINAR THREE
Crop protection
26th November 2020
12.00 – 1.30pm
SESSION CHAIR: CAROLINE DRUMMOND, LEAF CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Cereals in an evolving era of crop protection: A practical look at how farmers can adapt their toolkit to improve productivity and enhance environmental protection.
Murray Smedley, Managing Director, Barkwith Associates
As we enter a new era of crop protection, how is the tool kit available to growers evolving? If the UK diverges from EU regulation on PPPs, what impact will this have on competitiveness? Will the UK continue to abide by a precautionary principle of regulation? What impact will this have for farmers on the ground? What new PPPs are on the horizon to combat these challenges?
Teresa Meadows, Knowledge Exchange Manager, AHDB
IPM is widely discussed but less widely adopted: Why is that the case? What is holding the industry back? What changes will farmers need to make when taking steps to adopt IPM?
Harry Fordham: Syngenta New Farming Technologies Lead (UK & NW Europe)
Technological advances are reshaping how arable farming will look in the next five years and will increasingly drive decision-making on-farm.
How can technology provide a helping hand? What new technologies are on the horizon for farmers? How can technology improve pesticide efficacy, improve profitability and enhance environmental protection?