Farmers and food industry leaders will gather later this month to explore practical ways to cut costs on farm, diversify income and strengthen regional food supply chains.

Returning for a third year, the LandAlive Winter Conference will take place on Wednesday 25 November at the Bath & West Showground, Somerset. It brings together the food and farming sector to explore one key question: How do we build more profitable and resilient businesses for the future?

Against a backdrop of rising costs, market uncertainty and increasingly extreme weather, the event will provide a valuable opportunity to network and join insightful discussions on a range of key topics.

“Farmers are facing mounting pressure to make their businesses more profitable and resilient,” says Tom Pycraft, Founder of Ark and organiser of LandAlive. “There is no shortage of innovation or entrepreneurial thinking across British agriculture, but the challenge is turning good ideas into commercially viable solutions. LandAlive is about sharing what’s actually working on the ground, what isn’t, and crucially, what the numbers look like.”

Organised by Ark in partnership with Sustainable Food Somerset, the conference will focus on three interconnected challenges facing British farming:

• Building profitable farm businesses: Diversification, enterprise stacking and local processing to create new income streams and spread risk.
• Strengthening regional food supply chains: Addressing gaps in processing and distribution, and connecting producers with larger buyers.
• Investing in future resilience: Exploring practical innovation, policy and skills development.

Speakers will examine business, financial and collaborative models, consider future trends, challenges and opportunities, and look at how businesses across the South West are responding. Delegates will be able to share the commercial and personal challenges of working in food and farming, alongside regional examples of supply chains in action, from primary producer to end buyer.

Attendees will also hear from farmers and entrepreneurs who are restoring soils, retaining water in the landscape and building regional food enterprises. They’ll share what has worked, what hasn’t, and what the numbers look like in a changing policy landscape, with practical insights for delegates to take back to their own business.

The extensive panel of speakers includes Jake Freestone, farm manager at Overbury Farms, Gloucestershire; regenerative farmer and agronomist Tim Parton; Alexia Robinson, CEO of Love British Food; and Graham Harvey, former scriptwriter for The Archers.

Dr Lucy Williamson, a vet turned nutritionist, valued being part of the conference. “Farmers, academics, educators, health practitioners, innovative thinkers, conscious citizens and many more in the same room: That was why LandAlive was brilliant to be part of,” she says.

All are welcome to attend the event, including those new to farming and land management. Tickets are available at £40 for farmers, local food producers and community organisations and £80 for general admission. The organisers want cost not to be a barrier, so farmers for whom the price is prohibitive are encouraged to get in touch.