Exciting opportunities for farmers to unite and market their products to the public in ever more ingenious ways will be explored at the 2027 Yorkshire Farming Conference.
Collaboration rather than competition will take centre stage in a fascinating and inspiring discussion featuring the story of The Farmers’ Larder. The collective of six Yorkshire Dales nature-friendly family farms stock and manage a frozen meat vending machine at The Courtyard Dairy, the multi-award-winning cheesemonger in Settle.
Tickets are on sale now for the Yorkshire Farming Conference, a day of inspiration, insight and connection held by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society at the Great Yorkshire Events Centre on Wednesday 27 January 2027. The event celebrates and strengthens the future of farming across Yorkshire.
The ‘Direct Selling – Collaboration in Action’ session will be chaired by Pasture for Life’s Regional Manager, Rob Bunn. It will feature insights from The Farmers’ Larder founding member, James Newhouse, Farmers’ Larder farmer suppliers Holly Story and Alan Robinson plus the owner of The Courtyard Dairy, Andy Swinscoe and will inspire farmers to capitalise on their own local opportunities for direct selling.
James Newhouse farms with his wife Amy and two children. They have a small Dales hill farm with pure bred Belted Galloway cows and Swaledale and Herdwick sheep, with a focus on breeding hardy animals alongside nature. James was recently announced as the winner of the 2026 Farm of the Future Award by the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
James said: “The Yorkshire Farming Conference is a great event to meet farmers doing amazing things from all over our amazing county. Getting together to share stories over a brew is what it’s all about. I can’t wait to attend and share our story, but more importantly to listen to all the other good things going on and maybe steal a few good ideas!”
Andy Swinscoe, with his wife Kathy, set up and own The Courtyard Dairy, a specialist cheese shop, cheesemaker and cheese-maturer, to champion farm-made cheese. Andy is also co-founder of The Northern Dairy Seminars, which runs in-depth conferences looking at the details and specifics of cheese-making.
Andy said: “What a great opportunity to drive forward the discussion in connecting the future of food and farming. The Conference is going to be a fabulous event to bring some of the top minds from across the food and farming spectrum together."
James and Andy join an ever-growing line-up confirmed for the second annual Yorkshire Farming Conference. Other speakers announced so far include content creators and farming advocates Tom Carlisle and Rebecca Wilson, who will lead a social media session and the NFU’s Clare Wise, who will be one of the session chairs.
The 2026 Conference attracted more than 700 farmers and workers in agriculture to see renowned industry speakers discuss a broad spectrum of farming topics. More than 60 businesses and organisations supported the sold-out Trade Show.
David Tite, Manager of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said: “I’m really excited about the positivity the Conference will bring. This is an event for farmers to hear from farmers, learn from successes, share common ground in the challenges and feel the weight of support and energy this community has by working together.”
The award-winning Conference shines a light on the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s farming networks – Future Farmers of Yorkshire, Farmer Scientist Network, Yorkshire Rural Support Network, Women In Farming and Yorkshire Food, Farming and Rural Network – and the Society’s work to support education and development, promote innovation and help farmers seize opportunities. For more details, see yas.co.uk
Tickets for the 2027 Yorkshire Farming Conference on Wednesday 27 January are available to purchase now from yorkshirefarmingconference.co.uk
