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Live Debates
Amazon Rural Academy
Keynote Theatre 1
Timetables for Farm Business Innovation 2017 Will Be Released Soon...
Wednesday 8th November
Thursday 9th November
11.00 - 11.30
Keynote
Wednesday
Michael Eavis
The farm and the festival - how they work together
Worthy Farm in Pilton Somerset is a fully working diary farm, it's also host to the worldwide famous Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts - a 5 day festival held in June.
Michael Eavis will discuss the ups and downs of how festival and farm work together, and the introduction of new farm tech like their new robotic milking parlour!
11.45 - 12.15
Keynote
Wednesday
Doug Gurr
Unlocking rural UK’s digital potential. It’s still Day One.
The internet and technology have the power to level the playing field between businesses big and small, urban and rural; and democratises the ability to start your own business. Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon, believes that as more rural parts of the country go online, we can unlock the digital potential of rural businesses - resulting in more growth, more exports, better productivity and more talent retained in rural UK. Amazon attaches great importance to the rural economy, both here in the UK and across its broader European business. Many of its customers live in rural communities and many rural businesses already use Amazon’s services and infrastructure (digital and physical) to grow their business. This includes services ranging from Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Web Services through to Amazon Business, Handmade at Amazon, and Amazon Alexa. As a participant and enabler of the digital economy, with a clear interest in promoting the long-term success of rural communities, Doug Gurr will outline why Amazon believes rural UK has great potential to be a key beneficiary of the digital revolution.
12.30 - 13.00
Keynote
Wednesday
Geoff Sansome
Win, win. Managing environmental assets in the farm business.
The management of on farm environmental assets, or natural capital, is often presented as something that happens alongside profitable farming, or something that can only occur when individual farms are profitable. EU exit is likely to considerably alter the basis on which farmers and land managers are rewarded, with an increased emphasis on public goods. Geoff will explore some of the best practice in this area to make the case for farming natural capital.
14.00 - 14.30
Keynote
Wednesday
Paul Williamson and Philippa Hardman
Brewing up a difference – the Hillside inspiration
What’s the right balance between creativity and discipline, passion and planning in launching a brilliant new farm based venture.
Co-Founder of GameShift Philippa Hardman joins with farm based Hillside Brewery founder Paul Williamson to spark your ideas by sharing the Hillside experience.
This is a genuine tale told by the founder of an award-winning craft brewery start-up.
Founded on passion and opportunism, Paul will tell the story of how the Hillside project moved from aspiration to reality. Philippa will draw on her years of experience both past and present to help draw out the tips and tricks of a winning venture.
Expect inspiration, gritty truths and plenty of stimulus to spark your own thinking. There’ll be no unnecessary froth on this full flavoured brew.
14.45 - 15.15
Keynote
Wednesday
Dan De Baerdemaecker
The management of deer within farms and parks
A overview of the deer farming industry and the management of deer on farms and with in parks.
11.00 - 11.30
Keynote
Thursday
David Hawke
Building Sustainable Growth in Heritage Attractions
The story of how Alnwick Castle was transformed from a beautiful Castle in the North East of England with 50k visitors into a successful growing visitor attraction with over 300k visitors today. The seminar will look back on the initial catalysts for change but also focus on how we have built a platform and model for sustainable growth into the future.
11.45 - 12.15
Keynote
Thursday
Iain Beaumont
Running festivals and live music events on your land
Iain Beaumont, Castle Director at Powderham Castle, will discuss how to go about generating an additional from your land by diversifying into the world of live music festivals. The seminar will cover a broad range of topics including licencing ‘getting the basic’ right, working with promoters and event production companies. Powderham Castle hosted Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2016, pulling on over 50,000 people. With music being a principal component of the Castle business, Iain is able to help give an insight to anyone wanted to understand how to break into this area.
12.30 - 13.00
Keynote
Thursday
Tom Amery
Wasabi – From Project to Plate
We are watercress growers and watercress has been grown on our Dorset and Hampshire farms since the 1850s.
It was watercress that led us to our diversification into wasabi.
Our story begins with a chef visiting one of our watercress farms in May 2010 who remarked how the only other crop he had seen growing in similar conditions was wasabi in Japan. That was enough to plant a seed in our minds and we began looking at what it might take to grow wasabi in the UK. We discovered a lot of similarities between the conditions required for watercress and wasabi. We also discovered plenty of warnings that wasabi was a difficult crop to grow and that it had never been successfully cultivated in Europe.
The gauntlet duly laid down we began growing wasabi in some previously abandoned watercress beds and after a good deal of trial and error we brought our first wasabi crop to maturity two years later. It has been a steep learning curve and we are still given plenty of surprises by our wasabi crops. Each year we see something different and any mistakes take a long time to put right with a two year growth curve. Harvesting a fully mature plant is always an event as it is only when you pull the whole plant you can see what you have yielded.
13.15 - 13.45
Keynote
Thursday
David Boyle & Jared Bowers
Utilising Art and Nature to Support a Rural Estate
This talk will review the complexities of managing a 3,500 acre rural estate and the innovative and creative business activities that have been developed to support it. This includes the world famous Kelburn Graffiti Project, attracting and managing 70,000+ visitors to our country centre, setting up rural glamping accommodation, creative public events, private functions, land leasing, renewable energy and more. Forging a strong working relationship between art and nature, Kelburn has developed an operational ethos that is predicated on this relationship and seeks resourceful methods for maintaining a large estate.
14.00 - 14.30
Keynote
Thursday
Stephen Jones
The story of British quinoa production
The story of British quinoa production - an outline of how Stephen Jones began growing quinoa in the UK, how the idea came about, the crop trials and tribulations to the success of where they are now and what the future holds.
Stephen will expand on all these areas giving a full picture of the history of growing quinoa in the UK. Explaining how it all came about, how much it has grown, how The British Quinoa Company has in 2017 trialled new varieties in the UK. He will also give examples of the diversity of products produced from grain to flour, flakes and puffs, plus the retail market and potential future use.
14.45 - 15.15
Keynote
Thursday
Her Grace, The Duchess of Rutland
Capability Brown and Belvoir: Discovering a lost landscape
The Duchess of Rutland tells the story of rediscovering Capability Brown’s abandoned garden plans for her home at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. In this illustrated lecture, her grace gives an insight into her life as a 21st century Duchess and how she has articulated the original vision Brown set out for Belvoir Castle’s gardens.
15.30 - 16.00
Keynote
Thursday
Roger Allonby
Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Grant Funding
The Rural Development Programme for England provides a wide range of grant funding to support the creation of rural jobs and enable business growth, increase the productivity of farming and forestry, and and improve the quality of life in rural areas.
The seminar will provide an overview of the following funding that is or will soon be available, and how to apply.
The Growth Programme provides grant funds of £35,000+ for business development, food processing, and tourism infrastructure projects that lead to job creation and/ or economic growth in response to locally identified priorities.
The Countryside Productivity scheme provides a range of small and larger grants to agriculture, horticulture and forestry businesses to improve competitiveness.
LEADER is led by Local Action Groups, providing usually lower levels of grant funding to enable local business growth.
