On April 15th the Oxford Real Farming Conference and the Funding for Enlightened Agriculture will host two events examining the links between farming and social entrepreneurship, focusing on Community Supported Agriculture and Microdairies. The events are organised as part of Marmalade, a new platform for social change events, which launches on the 13th – 17th April in Oxford.
Innovations in funding Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) bring together Michael Norton (Co-founder Unltd, Co-founder Buzzbnk) and Doireann Lalor (Cultivate Oxford) to discuss what innovative funding models are there to support community farming, whether community shares are the way forward and how CSAs can take advantage of the social investment tax relief (SITR).
Are Microdairies the future sees Colin Tudge (Co-Founder, Funding Enlightened Agriculture, Co-Founder, Oxford Real Farming Conference), Nick Snelgar (Maple Field Milk), Matt Dale (North Aston Dairy) and Michael Norton (Co-Founder Unltd) come together to ask whether microdairies, with minimal input costs, offer a solution to the current dairy crisis. They'll be asking; how robust is the business model and do they offer a route into the farming sector for budding entrepreneurs?
Ruth West, co-founder of the Oxford Real Farming Conference, says
"The Oxford Real Farming Conference are excited to support the launch of Marmalade with these two sessions. Building stronger links with social entrepreneurs is crucial for the future of farming, and Community Supported Agriculture and Microdairies are two brilliant examples of this happening in practice"
Marmalade brings together 40 organisations hosting over 60 individual events, with 1000 people expected to attend over the week.
