The South of England Agricultural Society's Farming Conference

On Wednesday the 11th November we will be hosting our Farming Conference on the question ‘Who's Responsible for the Next Generation?’

The Conference will run from 7.00pm to 9.00pm online. If attending in person, pre- and post-event refreshments and network opportunities will be available from 6.00pm to 10.00pm.

From farm families and business owners to supply chains, policymakers, and consumers, who truly shapes the future of British farming? Bringing together leading voices from across the sector, this dynamic discussion will explore how responsibility for the next generation of farming businesses is shared and contested in a time of economic, environmental, and social change. And can the industry afford to cling to tradition, or is it time to back bold alternatives? Expect challenge, debate, and ideas that push the boundaries of what farming could, and should, be.

About our speakers:

Charlotte Smith (Chair) - Presenter of BBC Radio 4's Farming Today

Charlotte Smith is one of two main presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today. She grew up in Quorn, Leicestershire, where she volunteered on BBC Radio Leicester. Charlotte was then put on the BBC’s Local Radio Reporters Scheme before touring the local radio stations of Sussex, Cumbria and Devon. She then returned to Radio Leicester as a news reporter working alongside Julian Worricker.

She also worked on BBC national radio, The World Tonight. More locally to Leicestershire, she became a reporter and sports presenter on East Midlands Today. Returning to national radio on BBC 5 Live, she was a producer, reporter and presenter. Prior to Farming Today Charlotte worked as a reporter for You and Yours, the lunch-time consumer programme on Radio 4. She has also since been a television reporter on BBC1’s Countryfile, until 2009, and returned as an occasional relief reporter from 2014. Charlotte is also a mother of two children

Matt Naylor - Group Managing Director, Naylor Flowers & Co-Managing Director, Socius

Matt Naylor is a Lincolnshire farmer. Since incorporating Naylor Flowers, he has grown it into one of the UK’s largest flower businesses supplying supermarkets in the UK and the EU. He is also co-managing director of Socius, a labour agency, which employs up to 300 people.

He chairs the trustee board for the Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture

He is a past trustee of LEAF and a LEAF Marque farmer. Naylor Flowers supports Open Farm Sunday and hosts school visits at the farm’s on school classroom.

He undertook a Nuffield Scholarship on the perception of the British brand in international markets and is a past chair of the Oxford Farming Conference

He was the co-originator of the Agrespect initiative in 2018 which aimed promote inclusivity in the countryside

Matt Holly Morgan - Co-owner, Butterbox Farms

Holly is a first generation farmer who, alongside her husband Gavin Morgan, runs Butterbox Farm in Scaynes Hill, West Sussex.

They sell all of their homegrown beef, lamb, pork and chicken in their pop up farmshop which they began in 2024. They now sell everything that they grow on their farm direct to their local community and welcome hundreds of visitors to the farmyard every weekend. They are passionate about connecting people with where their food comes from and bridging the gap between the consumer and their local farmer.

More speakers to be announced.

Photographers will be present and should always ask permission for individual photography. If you do not wish your image to be included in the background please make yourself known to Society staff when you attend.

Description supplied by the event organiser.