Oxford Farming Conference 2025: Food for thought

The 2025 Oxford Farming Conference proved once again why it is such an important fixture in the farming calendar.

Since its inception in 1936, the OFC has served as a catalyst for progress, providing a vital platform for transformative discussions and collective action. This year, under the theme “Facing Change, Finding Opportunity,” the conference brought together farmers, policymakers, scientists, and industry leaders to address the sector’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.

For BASF, being part of the event offered not just the chance to contribute to the conversations but also to learn from the wealth of expertise shared across the three days.

OFC25 saw a strong focus on the intersection of policy, innovation, and social responsibility. In his keynote address, Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, acknowledged both the historic and evolving pressures facing British farmers, presenting a tri-focused roadmap for the future concentrating on food production, business resilience and nature restoration.

Precision breeding and crop resilience

Precision breeding legislation was a dominant talking point, and for good reason. The announcement of secondary legislation to enable pest-resistant, climate-resilient crops directly links to the transformative potential discussed during the conference’s science sessions.

One standout contributor was Dr Craig Lewis from Genus PIC, whose keynote illustrated how precision breeding could revolutionise livestock farming – his points were just as applicable for crop breeding. Sharing his personal connection to the farming industry, Craig described how disease-resistant pigs developed through gene editing can significantly improve animal welfare and reduce environmental impact. “We must not be afraid of talking openly about the tools we have at our fingertips,” he urged. “With these new genetic solutions, we are on the cusp of real change, and the fourth revolution in agriculture is on the horizon”.

This theme of innovation was also central to the thought-provoking session by Dr Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT. Bram’s call for a systems-based approach to food production emphasised that global challenges like climate change and food security require collaborative, big-picture thinking.

This “backdrop of a new conversation," as Govaerts described it, highlights the need to reevaluate our approach to food systems in both a unified and intuitive manner. He argued that investment in research and development is critical, not only to develop more resilient crops but also to ensure the sustainability of entire agri-food systems.

Adding an international perspective, Lisbeth Henricksen, Executive Director at SEGES Innovation, shared insights into the green transition in Danish agriculture. She emphasised the importance of developing mitigation technologies focused on climate and nitrogen, improving transparency within agri-food data systems, and integrating nature restoration, biodiversity, and recreational projects into unified farming strategies. In the same session Phil Jarvis, Land & Estates Director at Albanwise looked to how policy could better align with practice, pertinent given the diversity of his business of farming alongside property and a host of environmental management – wetland, peatland and agri-environment habitats.

‘Food desert’

The conference was not only about policy and innovation but also about addressing the social challenges at the heart of the food system. One of the most impactful contributions came from Dominic Watters, a food poverty campaigner and single father, who shared his experience of living in a “food desert.” Dominic’s story painted a vivid picture of life in a community where access to fresh, nutritious food is scarce.

“There have been times when I just haven’t had the money in the meter to be able to turn the oven on to cook properly,” he shared, illustrating the harsh realities of food poverty. His call for systemic change, urging policymakers to include the voices of those experiencing food insecurity, resonated deeply with delegates.

For BASF, Dominic’s participation was especially significant, given our partnership with FareShare, a charity focused on redistributing surplus food to vulnerable communities. His testimony reinforced the importance of collaborations that address food system inequities and highlighted the urgent need for sustainable, inclusive solutions.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation, echoed this sentiment, addressing the disconnect between British farmers and consumers, underpinning why advocacy campaigns like BASF’s Farming the Biggest Job on Earth are so important in farming’s social licence to operate.

“At the moment, there is a massive divide, with the highly nutritious foods which farmers grow becoming unrecognisable as it enters long and complex supply chains,” she explained. Taylor’s vision for shorter, fairer supply chains and policies that align agricultural practices with public health and environmental goals provided a compelling challenge to the status quo. Her emphasis on ensuring both farmers and consumers benefit from a sustainable food system captured the essence of the conference’s theme.

Oxford 2025’s Chair summed up the theme well in his closing remarks, he said that when we face change it forces us to adapt and from that comes opportunity if we approach it positively. In every speaker’s story this shone through in even the most challenging of circumstances.

The sessions and speakers from the 2025 Oxford Farming Conference will be freely available to watch from 20 January 2025 here.

BASF supports Oxford Farming Conference Inspire Programme

BASF partnered the Oxford Farming Conference Inspire Programme, an initiative that, since its inception, has enabled 115 individuals aged between 30 and 45 years of age, to attend the OFC and support their leadership journeys. The 2025 cohort’s roles span hands-on farming, science, law, policy, nature recovery, renewables, consultancy and journalism.

In addition to attending the conference, BASF hosted an on-farm networking event in October 2024 which attracted 40 of the Inspire Alumni on the BASF FarmNetwork Grange Farm. In November 2024, BASF partnered the OFC for a two-day development programme for the 2025 Inspire delegates which including a visit to the UK’s New Zealand High Commission and a host of leadership development sessions. BASF partnered Inspire with the professional skills development organisation, TIAH – The Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture.

To find out more about OFC Inspire go to https://www.ofc.org.uk/inspire-programme

Top