New Directors Bring Wealth of Experience to Oxford Farming Conference

Three new directors have been appointed to the board of the Oxford Farming Conference Council, bringing the fresh thinking and fresh contacts that are essential for delivering the farm calendar's biggest conference. The new appointees are: Jane King, Editor of Farmers Weekly; Christine Tacon, General Manager of The Co-operative Farms and Will Gemmill, a partner with Strutt and Parker.

Commenting on her recent appointment, Jane King said: "I'm very pleased to be a director of the Oxford Farming Conference. It's one of the premier industry events and has a crucial role to play in offering leadership on the challenges and opportunities facing us all in farming. I am keen to make it more relevant and useful to grassroots farmers, particularly in inspiring the younger entrepreneurs. This is such an exciting time but we have to be proactive if we are to truly make the most of the unique situation UK farmers are currently in."

All directors on the council give up their time voluntarily to deliver the vibrancy and interest for which Oxford has become renowned says Teresa Wickham, Chairman of the 2009 Oxford Farming Conference. "Jane King, Will Gemmill and Christine Tacon are very valuable additions to the team bringing with them a diverse range of backgrounds, ideas and contacts which are essential contributions for us to continue to deliver a forward-looking and respected conference."

Teresa is Chief Executive of TWA Communications, the Business Development and Strategic Communications Group. Teresa is also a regular broadcaster on BBC business programmes on retailing, food and consumer issues and was formerly the Director of Communications at Safeway. She is currently a Governor of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and is a partner in a fruit farm and co-founder Women's Farming Union.

The appointment of the three new directors was effective from January 2008 and their term of office will be three years. Further details of each of the new directors are summarised below.

Will Gemmill, a Managing Partner with Strutt and Parker

Will is a farming consultant dealing mainly with farmers and landowners with regards to the management, agronomy and the property issuer of their farm and estate business. Will is also Head of Agronomy and Farm Recruitment Services. His initial career was in farm management with Velcourt Limited managing their trials and open day farm. Will is currently the National Chairman of the lnstitute of Agricultural Management as well as being a qualified agronomist and a qualified agricultural valuer.

Jane King, Editor of Farmers Weekly

Jane oversees editorial content across the Farmers Weekly Group, which consists of 4 magazines, the website fwi.co.uk and a projects division. Farmers Weekly is now 70-years old and it is read by around 200,000 producers and rural people every week. Jane became the first female editor of the magazine and the first without an agricultural background in January 2005. She started her career as a reporter in the provincial press and has over 20 years experience as an editorial manager leading teams through change.

Christine Tacon, General Manager of the Co-operative Farms

Christine Tacon is General Manager of The Co-operative Farms which is the largest farmer in the UK and sells over 50% of its goods through the Co-op retail stores, branded as being from its farm business. Christine started her career in engineering and then moved to marketing confectionery. She became General Manager of the Co-op Farms in 2000 and was awarded a CBE for services to agriculture in 2004.

The 2009 Oxford Farming Conference will be held at the Oxford University Examination Halls from 5th-7th January 2009. More details and papers from the 2008 Conference can be found online at www.ofc.org.uk.