Following policy announcements made at the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) set out a renewed focus on partnership, confidence and long-term planning to support farm profitability and investment.

As part of the wider conference programme, Frontier Agriculture hosted a partner session with Defra, bringing together policymakers and industry leaders to explore what these announcements could mean in practice for farming businesses and the wider supply chain.

The session followed the Secretary of State, Emma Reynold’s main stage address earlier in the day and the publication of a blog outlining a new SFI offer. It provided an opportunity for open discussion on themes including collaboration, profitability and how confidence can be built to support long-term planning and investment across rural businesses.

Frontier’s group managing director, Diana Overton, opened the session, followed by presentations from senior Defra colleagues. The discussion concluded with reflections and an audience Q&A hosted by Richard Barnes, head of technical services at Frontier.

Linking policy announcements to practical delivery

As a business working across the arable supply chain, Frontier is ready to work constructively with the supply chain, policymakers and other agencies to help ensure that new policy ambition is grounded in practical reality. This includes supporting farmer customers to understand what change means for their businesses, sharing insight from across the supply chain, and helping create the conditions for confident farm business planning and investment.

The session also highlighted Defra’s focus on learning from experience and ensuring that future approaches are practical, inclusive and communicated in a timely way. Particular emphasis was placed on widening access to schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive, supporting smaller farms and new entrants, and ensuring that funding is spread across a broad range of farming businesses. There was recognition of the need to build on what has already worked, while continuing to adapt policy design so it delivers effectively on farm.

“We welcome the clear emphasis today on profitability, confidence and partnership, and the recognition that farmers need stability and clarity to plan and invest for the long term,” said Diana Overton, group managing director at Frontier.

“That direction is reinforced by the independent review led by Baroness Batters, which highlights the importance of fairer trading conditions and workable policy design. It was also encouraging to hear a clear commitment to learning from experience and widening access, so that schemes work for a broad range of farming businesses. Our focus is helping to turn that intent into action — supporting farmers to navigate change on farm, sharing insight from across the supply chain, and working constructively with policymakers and partners to help ensure these ambitions deliver practical, positive outcomes for farmers and the wider industry.”

Enabling industry conversation

Hosting and convening conversations such as this reflects one of Frontier’s five strategic goals: to ‘raise our voice on behalf of our industry’.

Frontier believes this means using its position responsibly — sharing insight from across the supply chain, listening to diverse perspectives and helping ensure that practical experience informs future thinking and decision-making.

By working collaboratively with policymakers, customers and partners, Frontier aims to support a resilient, productive and sustainable future for UK agriculture.

Next steps and ongoing engagement

Frontier will continue to engage with industry bodies, policymakers and partners, contributing insight and expertise to support the long-term success of UK agriculture.