One of British farming’s most recognisable faces, Adam Henson will be taking to the stage alongside Thrings’ legal experts next month at the firm’s annual Agriculture Seminar.
Taking place on Friday, 8 November, the seminar returns to the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, where last year it saw more than 200 rural professionals in attendance.
In his talk, Adam will be discussing the challenges facing the rural sector as well as the potential opportunities and the strategies available to achieving them.
An acclaimed farmer and entrepreneur, Adam was born into farming, studying agriculture before taking over the 650ha Bemborough Farm near Stow-on-the-Wold from his father in 2000, along with his business partner and old college friend Duncan Andrews who joined the business in 1997.
Today the farm has joined the Sustainable Farming Incentive as well as growing winter barley, winter wheat, spring barley and oats, and has a flock of 200 commercial ewes. An important part of the business is Cotswold Farm Park, one of the country’s leading rare breed tourist attractions which draws around 180,000 visitors throughout the year.
Since being set up in 1971 by Adam’s father, the park’s rare breeds have proved extremely popular and have been taken on location for period dramas, television programmes and feature films. Animals from the park have also been supplied animals for two David Attenborough natural history programmes.
It is, however, in broadcasting where Adam is arguably best known. Coming from a thespian family, he has served as one of the lead presenters of the BBC’s Countryfile since 2001 after being chosen from 3,500 applicants. Since then, Adam has presented a number of other TV and radio shows and has written a range of agriculture-focused books for children and adults.
His most recently project, a farming-focused wellbeing podcast “Keeping on Track”, seeks to explore the varying mental health challenges faced by farmers. Created in partnership with Team Doctor and sponsored by Thrings, the podcast aims to encourage more communication to prevent people from suffering in silence and enable people to receive the support they need before it is too late.
Adam said: “Farming is a different beast to what it was 10-20 years ago and the challenges the sector faces have drastically changed in that time, as have the solutions. Many are still based in common sense thinking, but others require a more modern approach, and it is important that farmers, landowners and businesses are equipped with the information and the tools to tackle them.
“I want to thank Thrings for inviting me to join this year’s seminar, which has become a staple event in the calendar for many in the rural sector and I look forward to sharing my experiences with the like-minded people in attendance.”
Registration for the Thrings Agriculture Seminar are now open. Click here to sign up.
Thrings’ Agriculture team is one of the largest of its kind in the UK with decades of experience in successfully supporting its farming and landowner clients to achieve their aims and the potential for their business. The firm is a part of the NFU’s legal panel and is recognised for its expertise in the agriculture sector with the highest possible rankings by both leading legal directories Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500.
Find out more about how we can support farmers, food producers and rural communities on our Information for Farmers page.
