Five Nations Conference 2025

01 Nov Five Nations Conference 2025

On Wednesday 15th of October 2025, five SAYFC members met in Edinburgh ready to attend the 2025 Five Nations Conference down in England, hosted by NFYFC.

The team consisted of David Murdoch of Beith and District, Ellis Kinloch of Loch Lomond, Anne Ashworth of East Fife, Katie Kelly of Mearns, and was led by International Vice and Vale of Alford member Ellen Glennie.

On Wednesday afternoon we flew from Edinburgh to Birmingham then took a train to the accommodation where we met all the delegates from other nations. We shared some traditional Scottish cuisine including shortbread, oatcakes, butteries, and Irn Bru and David shared a rendition of some Burns poetry to entertain the other nations to start off a social weekend of networking.

The theme of this year’s conference was Diversification, Entrepreneurship & Innovation. On Thursday, we embarked on our first day of tours.

We started the day with a visit to NFU Headquarters where we got an insight into the work NFU does lobbying and working alongside the government, and how they can help and support farmers all over the country there was also a good bit of discussion on how the NFU links with Young Farmers in each nation.

We then headed to the National Federation of Young Farmers building to have various talks including a farm safety and mental health talk from Megan Chapman of the Yellow Wellies Foundation to discuss one of the biggest challenges farmers face and how they can access and offer support.

Sarah Palmer, NFYFC Agri and PR Manager, spoke to us about all the different challenges and opportunities there are for young farmers and gave us an insight to NFYFC’s Agricultural Knowledge Hub which hosts a whole range of resources from DEFRA funded projects.

We also heard from the professional body TIAH – The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture – who help farmers to fulfil their potential and develop essential skills to help succeed in the sector.

We then had the opportunity to speak to Chief Officer James Eckley about the challenges each organisation is facing before heading back to our accommodation for the evening.

We then returned to our accommodation in Somersal for dinner followed by an antiques mock auction by Toby Hall of Leighton Hall Antiques – At just 19 years old he started his own antiques auctioneering and has even appeared on Antiques Roadshow.

We all then enjoyed a social evening, getting to know all the delegates from the other nations. On Friday, we began our day at Harper Adams University with a visit to their Agri-Tech Centre.

It was a fascinating and insightful morning,

giving us the chance to learn about the innovative technologies shaping the future of agriculture. We heard from the CEO of the Brocosaurus team, who explained how their technology is revolutionising the way broccoli is harvested – later on this day the Brocosauras was actually loaded onto lorry and taken to Dundee to be put to work!

Our next visit took us to Lower Drayton Farm, where we discovered the story behind their diversification into a farm park and explored their exciting future plans. It was impressive to see the wide range of enterprises on the farm—from soft play areas and pumpkin picking to an AD digestion plant and more.

We also enjoyed a guided tour of the site, gaining a real sense of how the business has evolved over time.

After that, we travelled to KUHN headquarters, where we learned about their upcoming machinery developments and had the opportunity to see inside their extensive storage facilities.

We ended the day with an RABI Race Night which proved to be a fantastic evening. Everyone got involved in the fundraising, with a few lucky winners among our group. The event raised over for a wonderful cause, and it was a privilege to be part of such a meaningful occasion.

On Saturday we started the day off with a presentation from Fiona O Leary at the accommodation on Rural Youth Europe and what the organisation does and what upcoming opportunities there are.

We then headed for our first tour of the day to Daltons Dairy. It’s a family-run tenant farm which trialed making ice cream in 2017 before building their own ice cream parlour in 2019.They have an honesty farm shop which is open all year round and a coffee hut that is open April to September. They are looking to start doing simple food to go with the hot drinks and ice cream that is already served.

We got to ride to the top of the hill in the trailer which has some fantastic views including looking into part of the JCB quarry. We admired the views as we learned more about how the dairy runs before taking a slow walk back down through the cow fields, learning more about milk yields and the challenges with contracts for milk which helped make the decision to diversify into ice cream production. The family also have some turkeys which they sell to the local village at Christmas time. We used the picnic benches to eat our packed lunches before being picked up for our JCB farm tour.

We were all loaded into a trailer to be driven around to see as much of this farm as possible as it covers 3,500 acres which is mixed between crops and livestock such as deer, pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens. They are always on the lookout for more land so will snap up anything that is up for sale on their farm borders. The farm has its own abattoir to kill and butcher all meat for supplying their farm shop and is branded as Daylesford Organic. The tour was very informative and we learned lots about the farm.

Before heading home, we stopped off at a local farm shop then headed back to the house for our last evening dinner followed by a night of poems, games, and singing.

After four packed days of farm tours, insightful talks, and socialising with fellow delegates from the four nations, we wrapped up the conference on Sunday with a reflective feedback session before saying our goodbyes and heading to the airport. What began as a weekend with five SAYFC members who didn’t know each other ended with us leaving as friends—bonded by shared experiences, laughter, and a deeper appreciation for agriculture across the UK.