Agriculture: Food Security - Threats and Solutions

Exploring the challenges faced by agriculture in the UK, and possible solutions to the threats to food security, will be William Burgess, Executive Chairman of Burgess Farms, Amy Cowdell, a partner in Shakespeare Martineau solicitors, and Mark Chatterton, director and head of agriculture at Duncan & Toplis. Chairing the session will be Keith Loven, of LOVEN Patents & Trademarks.

William Burgess‘s family business, Burgess Farms, started life in 1898 when Harry & Percy Burgess began growing vegetables in the Peterborough Fens and running a fruit & vegetable shop in Richmond, London. Ever since, the business has expanded using strong ethical values and today remains a privately owned business with active involvement from the fourth generation of the Burgess family. The business continues to grow vegetables and now has an organic division which is passionate about the benefit organic methods have on soil, wildlife and environment.

Amy Cowdell specialises in agricultural property law, bringing more than 16 years’ experience. She advises on a variety of matters such as buying and selling farms and estates, agricultural tenancies, easements, bank security work, and advising landowners on diversification projects such as commercial leases and selling land for development. Amy is also a leading figure in agricultural organisations across the East Midlands including Women in Agriculture and FCN Nottingham. Shakespeare Martineau is a leading law firm with offices across the UK.

Mark Chatterton‘s firm Duncan & Toplis is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers in the East of England. Mark supports a large proportion of the firm’s agriculture clients, having joined the team in 1999. Coming from a farming family himself, he uses his first-hand experience of the sector, a degree in Agriculture and over 30 years of practical know-how to offer proactive planning and compliance services and advice. He advises on all financial and taxation issues relating to agricultural businesses and assisting with changes including succession planning and diversification.

Keith Loven is a patent and trademark attorney with 50 years’ experience, the last 34 of which have been in his own practice LOVEN Patents & Trademarks, based in Lincoln. The firm handles patent and trademark applications for businesses in the East and South of England, several in the agricultural engineering industry, as well as assisting overseas patent attorneys in obtaining UK and European patents for their clients in the USA, China, and Taiwan, amongst other countries.

We hope you will find this an interesting and instructive discussion.