AIC heads to Scottish National Party 2022 party conference
The AIC’s Head of Policy Ed Barker was at this year’s Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference to represent members and ensure the UK agri-supply industry’s voice was heard.
Ed was across Scottish agricultural policy at the event in Aberdeen between 8 and 10 October, holding constructive talks with MPs, MSPs and the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon.
With the SNP-led Government in Scotland signalling its intent to take a different approach to agricultural policy to the rest of the UK, it is vital that AIC Scotland maintains its ongoing dialogue with the Party.
Issues such as land use, the new Agriculture Bill, tenancy reform, UK internal market and innovation were all discussed throughout the conference.
The event also gave Ed the opportunity to meet with key Scottish stakeholders such as Scottish environmental groups and NFUS, who hosted a fringe event 9 October.
Great to be at the @NFUStweets fringe event at @theSNP conference with @MairiGougeon
— Ed Barker (@edbarkerAIC) October 9, 2022
Much discussion of the Ag Bill, sustainability, profitability, rural communities, incentives, land use and food. Interesting discussion all round ð pic.twitter.com/3bGZw5xSDK
He also accompanied AIC Chief Executive Robert Sheasby at Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham last week (2-5 October) to meet with newly appointed Government ministers, as well as MPs and Peers.
Party conference season are a prime opportunity for AIC to share and discuss key policy priorities with politicians on behalf of AIC members.
Future in-person meetings with parliamentarians have been arranged in the coming months.
Author
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.