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.
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Wednesday
Ian Bell OBE - FOLK2FOLK
How to Fund Your Farm Diversification Project
11.00 - 11.30
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 £50,000, using land or property assets as security. Ian Bell OBE, Head of Farming & Rural Engagement, will showcase projects including glamping sites, farm retail, ice-cream production and barn conversions into holiday lets.
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Jess Hall & Louise Newton - Bidwells
Adding value and generating income on farms and estates
11.45 - 12.15
Maximising the capital value and net income generation of your farm, estate or holding is often a key objective for rural businesses. This can usually be achieved through utilising existing assets and realising the potential of your property through appropriate diversification schemes. We will talk through projects where we have obtained challenging and unusual planning consents, adding value for owners and creating alternative means of income, leading the development or diversification from inception to completion.
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Kelly Chandler - Kelly Chandler Wedding Consulting
Protecting your Wedding Bookings In a Fast Changing Wedding Customer Landscape
12.30 - 13.00
Have your wedding bookings declined? Are your ideal couples proving more and more hard to find? This session uncovers what the couple of 2019 really expects and demands of your country house wedding venue, how you might be falling down, where to market to them, how to speak to them and, most importantly, how to secure their wedding booking.
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Dr Paul Thomas - Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd
High Value Truffles: How to Cultivate Truffles on Your Land
13.15 - 13.45
You’ll learn what truffles are, how much they’re worth and the conditions needed to cultivate them. Dr Paul Thomas will discuss all aspects of the truffle business including technical requirements, set-up costs and grant availability, as well as expected yields, income and product distribution. This seminar will be of interest to anyone looking to diversify their land and grow truffle trees as an investment or just for fun.
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Lynn Bailey - Bawdon Lodge Farm
Not just a field on a farm- how we diversified by maximising our farm and land
14.00 - 14.30
Lynn Bailey along with her husband Richard have diversified Bawdon Lodge Farm, Leicestershire by transforming farm buildings into a business community, developing a solar energy source, being part of the National Forest Tender Scheme and by creating an award winning Wedding & Events business with an onsite gin distillery. All whilst still farming. A seminar for those looking to diversity their farm and hear an honest account from hands-on farmers.
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Lord Carnarvon - Highclere Enterprises Llp
The Real Downton Abbey: Adding Value to the Brand Image at Highclere Castle
14.45 - 15.15
Highclere Castle is well known as a visitor attraction and the location for the Downton Abbey TV series and now a movie out in September. To widen income streams for the future Lord & Lady Carnarvon have created books on family and history of the place, new products to sell worldwide such as the Highclere Castle Cigar and new Gin and a wall garden vineyard, and on the farm a new small bale Sanfoin mix for horses and Lord Carnarvon will explain the background to these projects.
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Mark Scott - Clear Sky- The Glamping Experts
Setting Up Glamping Sites Today And Beyond
15.30 - 16.00
A real life description of setting up a glamping site and what to do next from the coal face of glamping. With over 1000 customers and 10 years of experience you will find out how things have changed and what the next trends are.
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Thursday
Rob Hindle - Rural Solutions
Rural Solutions discusses what makes an ‘enterprising estate’ and the value added to estates that dare to diversify
11.00 - 11.30
Rural Solutions present on the features that distinguish more enterprising and successful landowners, and will report on the difference these make to successful diversification.
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Guy Coxall - HempTank/Cannabis Trades Association
Is Hemp the Future of British Farming?
11.45 - 12.15
This seminar will analyse the history of hemp farming, the current benefits and barriers to growing hemp, current and emerging end-use markets, licencing and next steps.
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Rob Macklin - National Trust
Innovations for sustainable farming businesses: A National Trust perspective.
12.30 - 13.00
The National Trust’s farmers, land managers and related businesses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are well-placed to test new ideas and practices. The talk will look at some real-life examples spanning technology, materials and equipment, sustainable production systems, business diversification and the development of payments for outcomes.
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Dr Alistair Nesbitt - Vinescapes
Grape-Growing and Wine-Making: Opportunities for Investment and Sector Growth
13.15 - 13.45
Grape and wine production is one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors in the UK. The boom in English and Welsh vineyards is being underpinned by changing climatic conditions, technology, investment and a market hungry for high quality ‘local’ wine. This seminar is for those interested in potential ventures into viticulture (grape growing) and/or wine production. It will focus on market opportunities and risks, investment requirements and geographical suitability.
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Simon Marrington - Tilhill Forestry
Diversification Into Woodlands and Forestry
14.00 - 14.30
Simon will present an overview of the benefits which woodland creation and management can offer landowners and a summary of the various financial incentives on offer, both for new planting and bringing existing woodland back into management.
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Robert Craine - Diversity Environmental Consultants Ltd
Ecology, Glamping and the Wildlife Effect
14.45 - 15.15
This seminar will look at the importance of considering biodiversity when designing a site for glamping and other uses, and how aiming towards a ‘biodiversity net gain’ can help secure planning permission. It will also examine some of the beneficial effects that nature brings to the glamping experience, and how campsites can be places for raising environmental awareness and promoting mental wellbeing.
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