A strong advocate of smart technologies, Mr Kendall’s speech will outline the three main challenges he sees facing world food production:

• Population and dietary growth
• energy production from the land
• and the increasingly hostile climatic environment.

Mr Kendall calls for solutions which have moved with the times and highlights the growing relevance of commercial farming.

“I believe we are at a critical time for the future of mainstream, commercial farming.

“As president of the NFU I want to see a strong productive, dynamic and competitive industry that places its environmental responsibilities at the heart of its activities – not one that winds down production for others to take up the market, which is tantamount to us importing the goods and exporting the problems”, he said.

With commercial agriculture firmly established as a valuable sector Mr Kendall takes up key issues facing the industry in the form of Government intervention and regulation, the supply chain and international policy agenda.

He calls for win-win solutions, which draw on the use of new technologies to “reconcile globally higher production and lower environmental impact.”

He said: “I am totally convinced that modern challenges require modern solutions. That is why research and development is so important. We need more, not less relevant research to ensure a long-term strategic view is taken.”

During the conference the NFU is launching a joint task force to address the climate change challenges faced by farmers as well as plans for a ‘responsibility index’ for UK retailers to demonstrate their performance on labelling, clear supply chains, relationships with suppliers and, more importantly, their standards applied to imported products.

In conclusion Mr Kendall said: “Farming in this country has a crucial role to play in addressing concerns over climate change and providing a secure supply of high quality food. I believe the industry is up for the challenge – that’s why commercial farming matters to this country.”

ThePoultrySite News Desk