Christine Tacon, managing director of The Co-operative Farms, is to take over as chairman of the 2011 Oxford Farming Conference (OFC).
Tacon will take up the voluntary role when the current chairman, Heather Peck, steps down at the end of the 2010 Conference.
The Co-operative Farms is the UK’s largest farmer, growing arable crops and fresh produce across more than 50,000 acres in England and Scotland, on ground owned by the group itself as well as by private landowners.
The farms business is wholly owned by The Co-operative Group, the UK’s largest mutual retailer, and much of the produce it grows is sold in Co-operative food stores.
Tacon joined The Co-operative Group in September 2000 from a background in marketing fast-moving-consumer-goods, having started her career in engineering. She was awarded a CBE for services to agriculture in 2004 and was recently televised in the BBC’s Future of Food programme, presented by George Alagiah.
Peck said: “Christine has a deep understanding of the drivers in the European farm to food supply chain and her network of contacts has been invaluable for delivering the high calibre of speakers we have at Oxford. She has a clear vision on the issues facing the UK farming sector which will be reflected in the stretching programme being planned for the 2011 conference.”
Tacon has been on the OFC Council since January 2008 and is one of nine council members who serve three years in the voluntary positions. She will take up her post in January 2010.
Bookings are now being taken for the 2010 Oxford Farming Conference, which will be held at the Oxford University Examinations Halls on January 4-6 2010. The conference theme, Rising to the Challenge, will explore how British farmers can respond to the immense agricultural challenge of feeding a world population of nine billion by 2050 with minimal environmental impact.
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