Oxford Farming Conference 2011 Dacian Ciolos - EU Commissioner for Agriculture EADT 15.1.11

AGRICULTURE’S big hitters will be assembling at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Conference at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham today.

The two-day event will see a high profile line-up of speakers including Department for Food, Farming and Rural Affairs Secretary of State Caroline Spelman and EU Commissioner Dacian Ciolosş taking on the political challenge on day one. NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond will be joined for the afternoon session by European Food and Farming Partnerships’ senior partner Siôn Roberts and Hertfordshire farmer Robert Law to discuss the business challenge.

The production challenge session on day two will be chaired by NFU Vice President Gwyn Jones with a panel including Martin Taylor, chairman of Syngenta.

Rounding off the conference is a Question and Answer session debating Meeting the Challenge: Setting Priories? The panel will be Farming Minister Jim Paice, Defra Shadow Secretary of State Mary Creagh, writer, journalist and broadcaster Jay Rayner, with former BBC news presenter Cathy Smith acting as chairman.