RASC Conference Highlights- Ruth at the RASC

Greetings!

A quick introduction, my name is Ruth. I am currently the Agricultural Manager at the East of England Agricultural Society and, more importantly on this occasion, a member of the Society.  I utilised my EEAS membership to apply for the grant to attend the 2024 RASC Conference.

It was an event I’d been looking to go to since 2016 when Amelia Rome and Tom Martin attended the Conference in Singapore and came back raving about the experience. I applied for the Canada conference 2 years later but alas, another member of staff got in before I did and then the dreaded pandemic hit, so it has taken the best part of 8 years, but I got there!

The 2024 RASC Conference was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in June. Society funding covered the Conference including the Next Gen sessions as well as contributions towards travel and accommodation.

Before the conference even began we signed in on arrival, picking up a conference pack to inform us about the plan for the week. The first thing that struck me was how smart the Conference Programme was, high quality printing and well designed, it reminded me how important the small details can be at events like this.  The pack also included some Scottish staples, such as some tablet, shortbread and a tweed keyring.

Next Gen Conference

The first day and a half were the next generation part of the conference, aimed at those under 40 years of age.

After introductions and formalities, Graeme Parker kicked off proceedings talking about his career journey that included a great amount of success in the hospitality sector before illness within the family drew him back to Scotland where he started a hoof trimming business and inadvertently found huge success on social media as The Hoof GP.

While briefly mentioning his social media following, Graeme focussed on his journey, it was a talk that demonstrated how resilience is built and how important it is to keep pushing forward at the toughest of times.

Jim Shanks followed on, with only half an hour to speak Jim showed himself to be very knowledgeable and down to earth. Jim is currently producing tomatoes in Scotland in massive glass houses, he spoke of the challenge that comes with planning permission and how getting out and about talking to people who are leading the way in your sector can be so valuable.

In the afternoon of the first day, we headed over to Saughland farm for a visit. The owner of Saughland has appointed 2 Farm Managers, Ben and Owen both under the age of 30 who are using data and benchmarking to run efficient and profitable enterprises on the farm.

We then hotfooted it back onto the bus for a quick change and headed straight out again for the Next Gen Dinner.

The dinner was hosted in the hospitality suites at Murrayfield Stadium and was preceded by a tour of the stadium, where we got to see the changing rooms and walk out of the tunnel to go pitchside (although not on the grass!)

Tuesday morning was one of the most inspiring of the whole trip, and it came with a local twist. Speakers Tom Martin of Cambridgeshire and Mike Duxbury of Bedfordshire took to the floor.

Tom spoke of how his attendance at the RASC Conference in 2016 (sponsored by the East of England Agricultural Society) inspired ‘Facetime a farmer’, now known as ‘Farmer Time’ and went on to talk about the importance of engaging with teachers and the next generation.

I have a top 3 speakers across the whole event and Mike Duxbury is definitely in there. Mike lost his sight at an early age, and through support of his friends was able to be the first blind person to attend an agricultural college in the UK. Attending Morton Morell in Warwickshire, Mike had an experience that wasn’t too dissimilar to the rest of the students that allowed him to thrive and follow his passion.

Mike and his partner Ness have set up ‘Inclusive Farm’ in Steppingly, Bedfordshire. The farm aims to be as accessible as possible to those with disabilities to show that there are opportunities within agriculture to work and enjoy the outdoors. Mike has recently got hold of the keys to a Farm in Scotland that will allow him to replicate the project on a larger scale.

 

Main Conference

Kicking off on the Tuesday afternoon we merged with the CEO delegates, who had been having an alternative conference to our Next Gen sessions and welcomed people who were attending the main conference.

We were meant to be joined by The Princess Royal on the Tuesday afternoon as she is President of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth, but an equine accident meant she was resting and recovering.

The main conference was split into 4 sessions, which RASC Chairman, Sir Nicholas Bacon Bt. KCVO OBE DL took great pleasure in explaining to us was an acrostic

R: Relevance

A: Adaptable

S: Sustainable

C: Connected

Ken Sloan, Vice Chancellor and CEO of Harper Adams spoke well of the role that Harper Adams plays within industry, and included a brief mention of the Marshal Papworth students. Ken spoke of his entry into the role, as he had no experience in the agricultural sector but talked about using that to his advantage and the perspectives it can offer.

In the Sustainable session, Sarah Millar, Chief Executive of Quality Meat Scotland and Jude Capper, Harper Adams delivered fantastic talks that spoke of trends in the meat industry and beef farming. I was impressed with how QMS have built a brand for Scotch Beef, really making it something to be proud of and more marketable as a product.

Minnette Batters also spoke in the Sustainable Session. She mentioned how having someone to help organise her time and a reliable team around her in her time as NFU President was valuable to keeping level and focused. She spoke of how it was important to take to care of yourself first and performance in the job will follow.

The Wednesday evening included the Conference Dinner, hosted at the Royal Highland Showground. We had a three course meal of Scotch Salmon, followed by Scotch Beef and wrapped things up with a Cranachan inspired cheesecake. All very on brand, but of course that was helped along by some bagpipers to complete the theme!

My favourite speaker came on the last day, in the session entitled Connected.  Marla Calico is President and CEO of the International Association of Fairs and Expo (IAFE), based in Missouri, USA. Marla spoke of the importance of Agricultural Society’s and Fairs in the community, with some fantastic examples to demonstrate her point.  Agricultural Shows and Fairs, get people off the farm, out of the house and socialising, which in an industry that can be isolating is so important.

Marla gave some examples of how Show Society’s had pulled communities together after tragedy or natural disaster to either help the logistics in the relief effort or raise money for people affected through events, utilising their expertise and space available.  She drew things back to Jessica Underberg of Erie County Fair in New York who spoke on the Wednesday, where on one day of their show allowed people to forego the ticket price if they brought 4 tins of food with them, creating an affordable entry option for those who can’t afford a ticket, but it also allowing them to help tackle food insecurity in the area.

Marla has made me want to focus even more on the community elements of being an Agricultural Society, and where we no longer host our own show, this is still feasible. It is important to keep sponsoring and supporting events such as the Young Farmers shows and rallies and other initiatives that occur within our county boundaries, to help our local rural communities thrive.

Summary

Thank you very much to the RASC for putting on such a fantastic conference and the East of England Agricultural Society for sponsoring my place.  It was a great week and on top of the fantastic conference speakers and experiences, I met people from across the Commonwealth who all had their own stories and reasons for being there.

In the future, although some topics are a bit show orientated, there is still so much to be taken away from the experience so I would encourage anyone to take the opportunity to attend, not just Next Gen but the CEO sessions and main conference as well.

The 31^st RASC Conference will take place in Cape Town in November 2026, pencil it in your diary now!