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Speakers at LEAF's annual President's Event on 5th November entitled "Sustainable Agriculture: Show me the money", highlighted the multiple ways in which farmers can maximise the three pillars of sustainability - economic performance, environmental quality and social health - to drive their businesses forward.
 

Key note speaker Gregor Henderson, Public Health England challenged farmers to realise the full potential of their assets and the social return on investment. He explained that farmers are key players in the promotion of health and wellbeing through farm visits, open days and community engagement. He demonstrated that this approach can deliver benefits for farmers and the wider community.
 

HSBC's Head of Agriculture, Allan Wilkinson added that agriculture now has the biggest economic opportunity and gave some key insights as to how farmers can maximise this.  He identified that bench marking and effective budgeting are key to a successful business. Few farms are currently operating at their true optimum performance and farming needs to get closer to the end customer. He also urged farmers to collaborate more to maximise resources.
 

LEAF Marque farmer David Rose then went on to discuss how community engagement has driven sales and helped raise awareness of his business.
 

The role that farmers can play in delivering ecosystems services is increasingly important said Charles Cowap, Harper Adams University. While provisioning services such as food, fibre, energy and timber will continue to remain key; farmers need to create and embrace new markets such as payment for ecosystem services, biodiversity offsetting, carbon and conservation covenants.
 
Reza Vishkai, from Insight Investment emphasised that agriculture is becoming a growing area for investment. He highlighted the need for responsible investment and cited Integrated Farm Management as a good example of this.
 

Caroline Drummond, LEAF Chief Executive concluded:  "While the future certainly presents its challenges, what our speakers have shown today is that there are significant opportunities as well. Farmers need to understand and maximise the economic benefits of the huge variety of public goods they deliver. It is key that the industry is flexible and open to new ideas and opportunities. LEAF is extremely well placed to support farmers and the food industry to do just this."
 

The event was rounded up with a lively debate hosted by Countryfile presenter and journalist, Tom Heap, with closing remarks by The Rt Hon Michael Jack, Food and Agriculture Advisor to HSBC Bank.