Women in agriculture are invited to a farm walk and demonstration of regenerative practices at a unique event on 31 August.

The Farm of the Future Women’s Day is being delivered by Innovation for Agriculture (IfA) as part of The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) Farm of the Future series of events.

Free to attend, the day will feature a presentation from Abi Reader who’ll explain her journey to incorporating agroforestry in a way which boosts business profitability.

Unique event

Deborah Crossan, head of soils and natural resources at IfA, says the event will showcase solutions which strike a balance between production of nutritious food, provision of environmental benefits through farm management, and ensuring a profitable farm business.

“This event is intended to provide an opportunity specifically for farming women to take a break from day-to-day routines and garner new ideas for their farm businesses,” says Deborah.

“There’s a discrepancy between the gender split of those working on farms and that of farmers attending events. In 2016, Defra reported that women make up 55% of the agricultural workforce in England and Wales, if unpaid and family labour is included.”

Gender bias

According to Deborah, although well attended, there’s a gender bias at IfA events with at least 80% of attendees being male.

“This event is a first step in addressing the discrepancy in the regenerative farming space, by providing an opportunity for farming women to come together to see and discuss solutions,” she adds.

Agroforestry

Keynote speaker, Abi, will talk about approaches she’s taking to sequester carbon through agroforestry, and how the trees will provide a diversified income to increase the overall resilience and profitability of the farm business.

“It’ll be a fantastic opportunity to meet with other farming women and share my experience, but also to learn from others in different environments and managing different enterprises,” says Abi.

Sign up

To attend the event e-mail deborahc@i4agri.org to request a sign-up link. Attendees may bring their children to attend a free programme of farm school activities which will run alongside the event.