Page 2 - Newsletter spring 2022

The Worshipful Company of Farmers
Master’s Musings
The Master’s year, so far...
By the time you read this, I will have been Master for six months and what an incredible experience it is. I would like to give you a brief insight into some of the events I have attended on behalf of the Livery. The theme of my year is the Future of the Family Farm, which has driven the range of activities in the past year.
The Lady Mayoress, Hilary Russell, hosted us at the Mansion House, one of her last engagements, for a special lunch when we highlighted the work of the twelve City Farms. There is to be a further open day at Freightliners Farm in June, where we hope to gain further financial support for these amazing farms.
The installation of the new
Lord Mayor brings the Lord Mayors Parade, and we joined
the procession with our float, highlighting the importance of the dairy industry. The crowd greeted us with enthusiastic cheers. What a wonderful and fun day it was.
On Remembrance Sunday there was a special service at St Pauls, after which we all paraded to Mansion House for the laying of wreaths, accompanied by a military band, it was incredibly moving.
Our Affiliations are important to
us, and we value the very strong link between us – see Rosie Carne’s article elsewhere in this Newsletter. I have visited the Westminster Dragoons, HMS Defender, RAF Waddington and I’m due to attend RAF Northolt for their annual Wing Field Day.
There have been two zoom Question Times, the first being on a “How to get family farms to engage and adapt to the new agriculture” and the second on “Farm Safety”. Both were well received and hopefully our ‘attendees’ found it useful and worthwhile.
Our Management Course (ACABM) ran for its 70th occasion and the Challenge of Rural Leadership (CRL) its 25th. The standard of delegate was incredibly high, and I am proud to think that over 1,700 people have benefited from our courses. We
also offer support to individuals to attend programmes at Cranfield and to date, have supported 10 Nuffield scholars (with Savills). Education is
at the very heart of what we do: our mantra being “Inspiring, encouraging and developing excellence in the management and leadership of UK agriculture”.
I heard Archbishop Justin Welby speak at the Henry Plumb Lecture, I attended the City Food Lecture and the NFU conference. Minette Batters
will also be speaking at our June lunch where we will celebrate our 70th Anniversary. Livery companies have been generous with their invitations, I have attended lectures, lunches, dinners and banquets. We all head off to Sheffield in June, for a Livery Master’s weekend which I am sure will be brilliant.
The Agriculture Lecture and Dinner takes place on Wednesday 27th April and the topic is succession, a difficult subject, which is why 60% of family farms don’t have a succession plan in place. Please come along and hear some sound advice on how to tackle this issue.
We then head to Staffordshire for the summer visit. My three sons and I look forward to welcoming you and to showing you some excellent family farms as well as giving you a fun time.
Of course, there is plenty of work to do within the Livery to ensure we go from strength to strength. None of what I do would be possible without the help and support of all around me. Thank you - it’s a team effort! Now what time is my train to London on Monday...
Mrs Karen Mercer, Master of the Worshipful Company of Farmers
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