FARM & MORE is coming to Edinburgh, 30th January-1st February 2012

FARM & MORE, the annual landmark event for farm shops, farmers’ markets, artisan producers and suppliers to the farm retail sector will be taking place in Edinburgh from 30th January-1st February 2012.

The event, which is supported by the Scottish Government and opened with a keynote speech from Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment in the Scottish Government, begins on Monday 30th January with four tours visiting 14 farm shops and other top-quality retailers around Fife, south Perthshire and West Lothian. It culminates with a free-to-attend trade show, using the Lowland Hall at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, on 1 February featuring exhibitors from the fine food and delicatessen world, as well as food production equipment and retailing kit such as labelling and packaging, lighting, tills and scales.

In between, on Tuesday 31st January, there is a multi-stream conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in the city centre, covering retailing and marketing skills, farmers’ markets development, catering and adding value, and farm attractions. There is a discounted ticket price for FARMA, and Grampian Food Forum members and a welcome is extended to all in the industry.

There is a package available for your choice of tour, the conference and Awards dinner for £299 plus VAT per person, which also makes available a three-night hotel deal of £120 plus VAT – that’s £40 per room per night – at the Premier Inn, Haymarket, a short walk from the conference centre, which FARMA will book for you.

If delegates book individual elements, the FARMA members’ prices are: Tours, £125, Conference day, £155 and Awards dinner, £60 – all prices exclude VAT, and delegates should book their own accommodation, easiest on-line with the Premier Inn, Haymarket or other nearby hotels. There will be a list in the conference booklet.

The tone of the event reflects the fact that, despite the gloom about the UK economy generally, the farm retail sector continues to do well. FARMA’s annual sector tracking survey commissioned through YouGov showed a bounce-back for farm shops and farmers’ markets from a dip in 2010, back to around one-third of UK households shopping at farm shops and farmers’ markets during the year.

‘All of our research over the past year has been pointing to similar conclusions,’ said Gareth Jones, FARMA’s managing agent. ‘There are some fascinating trends at work, including a refocusing to support local retailers. Quality food matters more than ever when people are buying to a budget. Farm shops are seen to be offering the very best foods, from the farm of course but also from local and specialist suppliers, and it’s viewed as value for money.’

‘The farm shop scene in Scotland must be among the most active in the UK, if not the world,’ continued Mr Jones. ‘There has been – and continues to be – significant investment over the past decade resulting in some of the most sophisticated farm shops in Britain. The sector is dynamic, full of true entrepreneurs with vision and it is well supported by a growing customer base. Alongside the development of excellent retail outlets, there has been expansion in the supply side too. A number of exhibitors who have booked for the 2012 Farm & More trade show are developing their distribution networks into Scotland for the very reason that there’s excellent growth.’

Speakers at Farm & More 2012 include international retail expert, John Stanley, who will premiere his White Paper about the future of farm retailing and expands his themes at the event. ‘I am predicting that within the next decade farm retailers should expect almost half of their business to be on-line,’ he said, ‘and developing strategies that inform and promote consumer trust will be of paramount importance as well as getting the product mix right for a very discerning and increasingly vocal audience.’

He continued, ‘Delegates at the Farm & More conference will get half the White Paper content, the other half will be delivered at the Trade Show on Wednesday 1st February. People attending at least three sessions will get a free download of the E-report which would cost £900 otherwise. I guarantee that delegates will get very good value – in every sense - from the event.’

As well as breaking new ground with benchmarking and strategies for collaboration within the sector, the 2012 conference also continues a theme from 2011, namely the need to work with social media. Speakers include Anita Waddell, managing director of Agility Marketing who specialises in promoting farm attractions but whose experience has far wider application. ‘Marketing today is more like broadcasting,’ she says in her talk. ‘Top farm retailers are already using Twitter, Facebook and targeted advertising to reach their communities with great success.’

The conference includes too some practical guidance from practitioners in the industry. There are talks from farm retailers embracing niche markets of wild boar and goat meat and Award-winning cheesemaker, Loch Arthur Creamery and local business, Stoats Oats, share their success stories.

Scobie McIntosh, suppliers of catering equipment and specialists in bread-making kit, has carried out a ‘makeover’ of a farm shop production kitchen and – with the support of the farm shop owner – reveals the changes that would make the kitchen more efficient, saving time and money.

‘We look forward to seeing a good number of Scotland’s farm retailers at the event,’ said Gareth Jones. ‘As well as all the talks and workshops there’s an enormously valuable social aspect to Farm & More, an exchange of news, views and information among the farm retail community from all over the UK that’s really special. And we have fun and fame too; Clarissa Dickson Wright will be presenting the Awards at the Awards Dinner, for example and we’ve got Dick Strawbridge – hero of ‘Scrapheap Challenge’ and ‘It’s not easy being green’, speaking after lunch on Tuesday.’

Farm & More, 30th January – 1st February 2012 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, The Exchange, Edinburgh; and at the Lowland Hall, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston. More details from www.farmandmore.org.uk or call 0845 45 88 420.