Shropshire Farming Talk: A fresh start to a busy year

 My cattle came into the barn on December 31, which is the longest the sucklers have been left out before, but with low stocking the ground held fine. 

They’re now in straw-bed luxury and getting through hay bales (and my finances) rapidly! 

At Jane Craigie Marketing (JCM), the year kicked off with the Oxford Farming Conference and once again the annual event has been a success and delivered a positive experience for those attending.  

This year’s chairman Geoff Sansome selected the theme, “Facing change, finding opportunity”. 

On the subject of change, one of the topics we’ve been discussing as a team at JCM is how we all keep on top of the latest news and developments in agriculture.  

Our vast and vital industry is ever-evolving with political influences, technological advancements, unpredictable weather patterns, volatile markets, and more, yet farmers adapt, not only in the UK but across the world, which is fascinating to see, and creates lots of news. 

In the not-so-distant past farmers largely relied on two national weekly farming publications which are still brilliantly informative, and now there’s an array of additional media outlets, both in print and online, along with excellent radio programmes dedicated to agriculture, and the recent dawn of farming influencers on social media.  

I’m interested to hear where readers spend precious time keeping up to speed with agricultural developments, and to understand which farming topics are of most interest and importance. 

Please feel free to email your answers to helen.cork@janecraigie.com. I wish you a happy and fulfilling 2025.

by Helen Cork, of Jane Craigie Marketing