Three of the key take-aways from the evening

WCF Question Time Panellists

• Minette Batters NFU President,
• Sir Charles Godfray of Oxford University, chairman of Defra’s science advisory council and chairman of the ‘Foresight Report’,
• Dr Darren Moorcroft CEO of the Woodland Trust,
• Ian Wright CBE, CEO of the Food and Drink Federation.

The Master assembled a really first rate and quite diverse panel for this, the inaugural, WCF Question Time event and as might have been expected when reading the list of panellists, there were some forthright and divergent opinions expressed.

A fuller analysis of the evenings proceedings can be accessed below but three key thoughts that I felt came through clearly can be summarised as:-

• The real benefit of Brexit is the opportunity to make our own decisions and to choose to do things differently and better in future – Covid-19 is a good example
• It’s perfectly possible for agriculture to lead the way in the effort to get to Net Zero – the industry knows how to do it and the opportunity is there – we need to grasp the nettle and show the rest of the country it can be done
• Food prices are going to need to go up if we want to address sustainability. The shopper might lead the way, driven by the mindset of the younger generation but the whole food and drink supply chain needs to understand change is needed and farmers will have to be paid more to meet the new standards

If you missed the event then the Company's Press Release, with all the key points captured, can be found here Question Time Press Release or to see a recording of the panellists responses to the questions the Master selected for discussion please go here WCF Question Time link