Professor Jude Capper is to be the lead proposer in the debate in January 2025 at the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) in the Oxford Union.
Capper will lead on the motion: “This house believes that UK agriculture needs more grazing livestock, rather than fewer, to be truly sustainable”.
She is a Professor of Sustainable Beef and Sheep Production at Harper Adams University and Livestock Sustainability Consultancy and an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant. Her research focuses on the sustainability of livestock production systems, specifically dairy, beef and sheep. She is passionate about the role of ruminants in sustainable systems, and is also a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Butchers.
Alongside her will be another Liveryman, Rob Havard, who was the WCB sponsored 2022 Nuffield Scholar.
Opposing the motion is Henry Dimbleby, author of the 2021 English Food Strategy report, whose recommendations were largely ignored by Government. The other speaker opposing is Colin Ferguson, vice cChairman of NFU Scotland’s Dairy Committee.
More details of the programme can be found here.
