THE East of England Showground was the setting for a regional farming conference where MP Shailesh Vara dropped in to meet delegates, many of whom farm locally in North West Cambridgeshire constituency.

Key speakers included Lord Benyon, Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Lord Debden, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change. The line-up also featured Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, London.

Topics under discussion included the economic and environmental sustainability of plant production and the opportunities offered by diversification. Afterwards Shailesh told us: "This was an important conference for the local and regional farming community and I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet delegates and local firms, from within our constituency and beyond, upon whom we all depend when it comes to putting food on the table."

One of those local farmers was conference chairman Tom Martin (pictured right) whose family run a mixed sheep and arable farm in Haddon. Tom paid tribute to the 'progressive' approach being taken by many farmers looking to the future 'to ensure we can produce nutritious food while stewarding the environment'.