Profitable food production in 2025, how to make money from the environment, & making sense of Labour's policies for farming – our special Oxford Farming Conference preview

In this episode, we look at the prospects for farming in 2025 – and discuss the opportunities for growers and livestock producers.

We examine the outlook for profitable UK food production, ways to generate income from the farmed environment and the likely direction for government policy.

First, though, we preview the Oxford Farming Conference (8-10 January) – which has a reputation for setting the political agenda for the farming year.

This year's conference will see a keynote speech by Defra secretary Steve Reed following a series of controversial policy announcements.

Does the (still) fledgling Labour government really understand farming? And, if so, why has it imposed inheritance tax on farm assets worth more than £1 million?

Contributors include:

• Oxford Farming Conference chairman Geoff Sansome
• Policy analyst Emily Norton, Farm Foresight
• Graham Redman, The Andersons Centre
• Tim Isaac, Ceres Rural

Listeners in England can obtain free farm support advice until March 2025 under Defra's Farm Resilience Fund – subject to eligibility criteria.

This episode is hosted by Johann Tasker.

To contact the Farmers Weekly Podcast, please email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In England, you can also message us by texting the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.