Business Breakfast
Thursday 1st July
'Water, an Infinite Resource?'
Time: Registration and Breakfast 8:30am for a 9:00am start
Venue: The Royal Norfolk Show, Spirit of Enterprise Marquee (Stand 252)
Location Map
Working in partnership with the Rural Enterprise Hub at Easton College, Shaping Norfolk’s Future formally invites you to attend a business breakfast on Thursday 1st July from 8:30am in the ‘Spirit of Enterprise’ marquee (Stand 252) at the 2010 Royal Norfolk Show.
The breakfast organised in association with The Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and Cue East (Community University Engagement East) will focus on water use in agriculture. Topics will include the increasing competition for water, the link between food security and water security, its regulation and how to respond to decreasing water supplies.
The breakfast will be informative and provide an opportunity for networking with fellow peers, as well as finding out about funding from the Rural Development Programme for England.
Speakers
Bruce Lankford, Senior Lecturer in Natural Resource, University of East Anglia
Reasons to eat seasonally? Importing food and vitual water; exporting water stress to semi arid countries.
Bruce is a staff member of the School of International Development, University of East Anglia. Currently Senior Lecturer in Natural Resources and Head of School, and Research member of the UEA Water Security Research Centre. Bruce has 25 years experience working in water resources, river basin management, and irrigation systems mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bruce's presentation will introduce the idea of virtual water in trade, including a review of the water requirements required in growing and importing produce from semi-arid countries overseas, comparing that with food grown here in the East of England. The presentation will look at arguments that certain foodstuffs should be grown locally and eaten seasonally if we are to responsibly play our part in minimising an unsustainable growth of irrigation that uses excessive amounts of water in water-scarce areas.
Paul Hammentt, Senior Policy Advisor, NFU
The Politics of Water - V holding onto your supply.
Paul is a senior policy adviser for the NFU in East Anglia with responsibility for environmental and land use issues. Water is a major focus of Paul's work in particular irrigation, flood defence and water quality.
Paul's presentation will discuss the link between food security and water security, the competition for water and the distribution of water through the abstraction licensing regime.
Lindsay Hargreaves, former farm manager of Elveden Estate and independent consultant.
Practise, Science and Regulation in Water - bringing them all together.
With a wealth of experience in water for farming, Lindsay Hargreaves is well placed to comment on the practicalities of bringing together the sometimes competing needs of farmers and regulators. Now working independently, he has 30 years of practical farming experience behind him, most of which was spent with irrigated farming on Suffolk Breckland. He is chairman of the Lark Abstractors Group and represents water interests at national level with the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association and the United Kingdom Irrigation Association. He has recently completed a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking at new science and technology for farming and food.
Following on from the politics, the regulations and science Lindsay's presentation will link the three together to assess how these pressures might impact on farm businesses and suggest ways in which farmers, land managers and their advisors might respond.
Who Should Attend?
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Farmers
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Land managers
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Regulators
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Advisors
The stand organised by the Rural Enterprise Hub at Easton College, will feature:
Norfolk Rural Business Advice Service (NRBAS), LandSkills East and the three new Rural Development Programmes, which will showcase some of the business opportunities and challenges the rural businesses of Norfolk will face over the coming years.
Shaping Norfolk’s Future exhibition will highlight organisations which give business support, advice and networking opportunities. There will also be a Meet the Buyer event enabling small and medium sized enterprises to meet some of the largest procurement specialists in the county, to identify ways of securing new contracts.
Also present will be the John Innes Centre and InCrops from the Norwich Research Park, who will feature future challenges and opportunities for farmers, such as the impact of climate change, land use and green house gas emissions.
To book a FREE place
Book your place on Shaping Norfolk's Future Business Breakfast.
Alternatively contact Fiona Atkins on (01603) 638307 or email fiona.atkins@shapingnorfolksfuture.org
In breakfast is in association with;
